Odi et Amo
by Medea3
Summary: My long, painful attempt at a realistic Sami/Lucas romance. They'd like nothing better than to stay our of each other's way-- or would they? Why is Sami having adventures with bats, Lucas feeling admiration for Eric, and Will eloping with a giant panda?
1. Odi

  
"Odi et Amo" --part 1  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"The doctor has to make sure you're healthy."  
  
"I'm healthy."  
  
"Good. We'll just make sure the doctor agrees with you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because if you let the doctor look at you, you'll get a piece of candy."  
  
"We can get candy at the store."  
  
"The candy here is better."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I've been here before."  
  
"I don't want any candy."  
  
"We still have to go."  
  
"Daadddyy," Will whined, dragging the word out to at least eight syllables.  
  
"Will, this will only take a few minutes," said Lucas, praying silently that he wasn't lying. "Then we can do whatever you want for the rest of the day."  
  
Will pouted. "I don't wanna go."  
  
"We're already here."  
  
"We can leave."  
  
"We have to meet Nicole."  
  
"I don't wanna meet Nicole." This gave Lucas pause. He wondered if Will was just trying to get out of visiting his pediatrician or if he genuinely disliked his stepmother. Nicole had been spending much of her time lately telling him that he should sign custody of his son over to Sami. He only hoped that Nicole's apparent memory lapse with regards to the reason he had married her meant that her feelings for him had gotten stronger. Maybe he could ask Will what he meant, but his less-than-five-year-old was not always able or willing to give him a straight answer. Kind of like his mother. Lucas pushed that thought out of his mind.  
  
"Why don't you want to meet Nicole, Buddy?"  
  
"I like Mommy better. Why do we always have to have Nicole?"  
  
Lucas glanced quickly around the waiting room, assuring himself that no one was listening before he attempted to answer his son.  
  
"Will, I've told you this. Nicole is my wife. That makes her your step-Mommy, and she loves you very much."  
  
"No, she doesn't."  
  
"Yes, she does."  
  
The argument was mercifully ended by Will's doctor's appointment, which was mercifully short.   
  
Lucas was in a good mood. Every time he went anywhere with Will, he felt two things: pride at having a son, and delight that he had full custody and Sami did not. Sami would probably kill to be able to spend this much time with Will. His happiness increased when he saw Nicole waiting for him. She was talking to her brother, Brandon. That was something that might end Lucas' good mood-- Brandon's apparent interest in Sami. If Sami dated or even married his brother-in-law, she would be even more closely connected to him than she already was. Of course, as things stood now, she was still dating his brother Austin, so Brandon might actually be an extra degree of separation.  
  
Lucas swung Will into his arms, and Will, his earlier talkative mood gone, instantly slipped into a state of near-sleep.  
  
"There you are, Nicole. Hi, Brandon." Lucas kissed his wife hello and then turned to his brother-in-law.  
  
"Why are you so happy?"  
  
Brandon's grin widened. "Your brother."  
  
"What? Did you beat him into a coma again?"  
  
"No! But he and Samantha have come to a parting of the ways."  
  
Lucas smirked. "I'm sorry, Brandon, but if you think that that's going to make Sami fall into your lap, you're wrong. She's been chasing Austin since she was fifteen, and his not wanting her has never changed her plans."  
  
"You don't know Samantha as well as you think you do, Lucas." Lucas wondered why he resented that comment.  
  
"I don't?"  
  
"She isn't fifteen anymore. She realizes that someone could love her for herself, and not try to turn her into her older sister. She realizes that Austin isn't everything she thought he would be. She fell in love with someone she made up, and she knows it."  
  
"Even if all of that is true, which I richly doubt, are you sure she's going to turn to you?"  
  
"She's already agreed to meet me tonight. We've been going out together for a while, we just haven't been calling what we do 'dates.'"  
  
"Good for you, if you're sure this is what you want. I wouldn't get involved with Sami again for any amount of money."   
  
Both Brandon and Nicole winced at Lucas' choice of words, but he managed not to notice.  
  
"I know that you and Samantha have had problems, but, really, I've almost never seen anyone with so much passion and fire. She's a lot of fun. She's beautiful, too, you have to admit that."  
  
"She has gotten prettier as she's gotten older, but she's a spider woman. A black widow. I'm glad you're getting her on the rebound. It's safer."  
  
"I don't know that she's on the rebound. I don't think she and Austin ever consummated their relationship." Lucas tried not to cringe at the mental images that statement dragged up. "Austin was really the rebound relationship-- she was engaged to Franco. She was something like an hour away from marrying him, wasn't she?"  
  
"Something like that." Franco Kelly was not one of Lucas' favorite subjects; literally getting away with murder was not something to take pride in, at least not when it almost caused the death of your son's mother.  
  
Nicole took pity on Lucas. Yes, she was working with Sami to hurt him, but only because she just had to have that brat Will out of her life, and because she wanted a chance with Eric. Lucas wasn't a bad man, but no one was Eric. There was no reason to let him get drawn into a discussion of Franco's murder, a crime which she believed her husband had committed. If he hadn't done it, he certainly knew who had. And as Lucas was the source of her money, she preferred him out of jail to in it.  
  
"Honey? I hate to distract you from this wonderful conversation about how hot Sami is, but what did you want to do for the rest of the day?"  
  
"I don't know. I asked Will but he didn't have anything to say." He glanced at his son once more. Will was either asleep or not answering. "Is there anything you want to do?"  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes, you. You know I'd do anything to make you happy."  
  
"I am happy. I'm married to you, and my favorite brother is happy."  
  
"Thanks, Nicky," smiled Brandon.  
  
"I'm just glad you're not focusing on that ridiculous vendetta against Abe Carver any more."  
  
"Oh, I haven't forgotten about that. He will pay for what he did to our family."  
  
"And what exactly is that? It was Mom's fault, no one else's. If she just would have stood up for herself--"  
  
"No, Nicky. Things would have worked themselves out if Abe would have minded his own business."  
  
"When women let their husbands hit them, the cops come. Abe was just doing his job. He didn't have a choice."  
  
"He broke up our family. He didn't have to do that. Men and women fight, especially when they're married, or have children to argue over. The rule shouldn't be 'adults fight, kids never see them again.'"  
  
"It isn't! They weren't fighting, Mom was just knuckling under to his demands, like the spineless--"  
  
"Nicky!"  
  
"Hey, Nicole, we really should go," Lucas interrupted. He didn't want to hear any more of Nicole and Brandon's discussion.  
  
Nicole left agreeably, and Brandon stood alone. "No, *that's* knuckling under, Nicky," he thought to himself. "Marrying Lucas and parading around like his trophy wife when you could have married someone you loved with all of your heart." She *was* making plans to go back to Eric, but she was using entirely underhanded methods where they just weren't needed. Leave it to Nicky to make things as hard as she could.  
  
Brandon was distracted from his thoughts in the most pleasant way possible-- the arrival of Samantha Brady.  
  
"Hey, Brandon. Are you almost off?"  
  
"Get off at the same time you do."  
  
"Oh, then you're off already."  
  
"Really! Time flies when you're having fun."  
  
"Who were you having fun with? Should I be jealous?"  
  
"Samantha, I think it's a little early in our relationship to be quite so possessive."  
  
"Maybe I don't want to let a good thing slip away." Brandon beamed inwardly. This was the first real, semi-flirtatious compliment he'd ever gotten from Sami.  
  
"I'm a good thing?"  
  
"It looks that way. I mean, you help me with everything, you're great fun, and sometimes I think you already know me better than Austin does."  
  
"If I don't, I promise I will soon, now that you're opening up to me more."  
  
"You have to open up to me in return, though, or this won't work."  
  
"Of course, Samantha. It isn't easy for me, but I did tell you I'd try, and I am trying."  
  
"That's all I ask for. And in the interest of your trying, how about you tell me who you were having fun with?"  
  
"Oh, Nicky. No need for you to get jealous."  
  
"What was she doing here?"  
  
"Meeting Lucas. Will had a doctor's appointment." Brandon cringed as Sami's face fell. Why had he said that? She loved her son more than anything in the world, and he knew it was killing her to be away from him. Probably a large part of the reason she was willing to spend more time with him was her faith that he and Nicole would help wrestle custody away from Lucas. He wouldn't let her down. He really liked Will; he liked all children, and he was sure that they could have a lot of great times together. The great times he was most looking forward to, however, involved nothing but himself, Sami, and a bed. Come to think of it, the bed was optional.   
  
"I can't believe my son had a doctor's appointment right here and I didn't even know. Did everything go okay? Do you know if he was scared, if he cried?"  
  
"I think he was all right. He was asleep when I saw him, mostly asleep, anyway. Didn't look upset at all."  
  
"That's good," she answered, but her eyes blazed. "I shouldn't have to hear about my son's well-being second or third hand. I'm his mother! *I* should have custody."  
  
"You'll get it. Be patient."  
  
"How can I be patient when every day I miss so much? He's learning new words, making new friends, trying new things. Sometimes I think he grows an inch between the times I see him."  
  
Brandon grew more concerned. This was not the kind of mood he wanted Sami to be in when they had their first official date. He didn't know that he'd have enough time to snap her out of this.  
  
"Sami, worrying over Will like this isn't going to help him. You'll see him soon, and when you do, you'll want him to see you happy. He'll know if you aren't. Kids always do."  
  
"That's true, he always does. I always did with my parents, too."  
  
"So, how about we start our date now?"  
  
"Now? You don't have dinner reservations until seven and we've just gotten off work."  
  
"Why does that matter? We can go somewhere before dinner."  
  
Sami fought Brandon's inviting grin for a few moments, then reluctantly acquiesced. "What did you have in mind?"  
  
"It's a surprise. But I do have an idea you might like." He led her out of the building and to his car.  
  
"When did you get this, anyway? When I first met you, you said you were in debt."  
  
"I was, but I have Nicky to help me out now. She got me the car as a present for coming to Salem to visit her."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Wow, what?"  
  
"That's a pretty big present."  
  
"If Eric wanted a car and you could buy ten without thinking twice about it, wouldn't you give him one?"  
  
"Well, yes. But not that long ago your sister Taylor was working two jobs to get herself through school, and Nicole didn't seem to be too concerned about that. And doesn't your Mom still waitress at the country club?"  
  
"My mother waitresses because she wants to, not because Nicky and I won't help her. And as for Taylor, Nicky has a lot more money now than she did then. Tay got that scholarship out of state all by herself, but who do you think is sending her money for books and pizza and whatever else it is college kids need money for?"  
  
"I didn't realize that."  
  
Brandon nodded.  
  
"Still," continued Sami, unwilling to let the subject drop, "Nicole was already modeling when Taylor started school. Why didn't she help her then?"  
  
"She only had her modeling money."  
  
Sami snorted. "I hired her. I know what her modeling money was . . . you mean she bought you that car with *Lucas'* money?"  
  
"Well, no."  
  
"Then what?" This was a path Brandon could not have Sami going down.  
  
"It isn't technically just Lucas' money if they're married, right?"  
  
"I guess not." Sami was disappointed that that was all Brandon had meant.  
  
"How well did you know Taylor, anyway?" Brandon asked, hoping to keep the conversation off of money and find out just how much Sami knew about his family in one blow.  
  
"I didn't, really. She was doing work for a cleaning service at Titan when I still worked there, but I don't think I ever saw her. Eric saw her a lot, though, and I heard about her from him. I think she had a little bit of a crush on him. Oh, and she helped Lucas with his physical therapy after he crunched up a car and almost killed Will, but that was the same day Franco died and I didn't pay much attention to her."  
  
"Naturally."  
  
"Eric said repeatedly that she was really sweet, though. Insecure, didn't want to be looked down on as the sister of a model. I know how that feels."  
  
"You may," thought Brandon to himself. "But I doubt that Taylor does. I guess this is why Nicky was so eager to help her go to college away from Salem-- Nicky was lying even before she married Lucas and Taylor wanted to tell the truth. Honestly, Nicky." What he said aloud was "It looks like we're here."  
  
"I was so busy talking to you that I didn't even notice how far we'd driven. Where are we?"  
  
"Take a look."  
  
Sami craned her head around. It took her a moment to recognize her surroundings. "The *roller rink?*"  
  
"Well, you were so eager to get me ice skating last winter that I thought you might like this, too."  
  
"Have you ever been here?"  
  
"No. I take it you have?"  
  
"Not for a while. I think I was still in high school the last time I was here. My friend Jamie and I went to a party together. And the time before that was years earlier, I was with Eric so we must not have even started junior high."  
  
"So, is there any reason we shouldn't go in here?"  
  
Sami grinned. "Well, you should realize that it's still 1972 or so inside. You'll be able to tell by the soundtrack, and they have a disco ball over the center of the rink. It's pretty dark, but they do have those beams of colored light flashing everywhere."  
  
"So you want to go somewhere else?"  
  
"Not at all. This will be fun, I just wanted to let you know what you're in for. They also have a chocolate cafe and a game room. Eric and I used to play air hockey every time we came."  
  
"And you beat him every time?"  
  
"Just about. He was kind of indulging me. He loved to roller skate. He used to whine about wanting new, fancy skates every day until . . ." her voice trailed off.  
  
"Until what?"  
  
"Nothing. Let's go."  
  
"What? Samantha, I answered all of your questions about my sisters on the way over here."  
  
"Which doesn't come close to evening up what you know about my family and what I know about yours."  
  
"This isn't a contest."  
  
"Then why do I have to tell you a story I don't feel like telling you? I thought this date was supposed to make me feel *better*," she replied warningly.  
  
"You're right, it is." Brandon forced a smile to his face, but the smile became genuine when Sami returned it.  
  
The roller rink was more fun than either of them had hoped. By the time they arrived at Lady Vi's, they were laughing freely and feeling genuinely happy to be in each other's company. Vi greeted Brandon with her usual delight; he was unquestionably one of her favorite customers.  
  
"Your sister is here, too," she informed him.  
  
Sami and Brandon's joy faded as Sami's and Nicole's matching blue eyes locked across the room. There was no true malice there, but Sami was not sure how long that would be so.  
  
With Nicole, of course, was Lucas.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 2  
  
Lucas watched Nicole. She was beautiful, and he never got tired of looking at her, and making her happy. He wasn't quite sure why she had wanted to come here for dinner instead of somewhere more upscale, like the Penthouse Grille or Tuscany, but she had been adamant, so here they were.  
  
He suddenly noticed that her eyes were no longer focused on his; she was very definitely trying to tell someone else something. He turned in his seat and looked toward the door, where he saw the person he least liked to see-- Sami. She was with Brandon, of course. This seemed like his kind of place; he was probably how Nicole knew about it. He should have thought of that before agreeing to come here on a night when he knew Brandon and Sami were going out . . . wait a minute. His life did NOT revolve around Sami. If Sami wanted to be her obnoxious self, she could be the one to leave. She seemed to have Brandon wrapped firmly enough around her finger; he wouldn't be mad if she wanted to go somewhere else or get herself thrown out.  
  
"Nicole! Don't look at them."  
  
"That's my brother, Lucas. I can't ignore him. Hi, Brandon!" Nicole's loud salutation drew the ire of the other three involved parties. Brandon went so far as to mumble something about having a talk with his sister under his breath.  
  
"Hi, Nicole. Fancy meeting you here."  
  
"Well, when you told me that you and Sami would probably be coming here, I guess it put the idea in my head. Thanks."  
  
"Yeah, thanks," echoed Lucas, in a considerably different tone.  
  
"What's the matter, Lucas? Not good enough for you?" asked Sami, by reflex.  
  
"Any place that lets you through its doors is not good enough for me, Sami."  
  
Nicole chose this moment to knock a glass of wine almost directly toward Sami. The wine splattered onto her clothes, and Nicole began apologizing almost before the glass had stopped rolling.  
  
"It's not too bad, Nicole. I'll just go clean it up."  
  
"I'll help you."  
  
"I was hoping you might," came the half sarcastic, half dry response.  
  
"That was a good shot," Sami remarked a moment later as the sometime friends stood before the bathroom mirror. "You made a real mess but my clothes are fine."  
  
"Good." Nicole sounded relieved.  
  
"You did this on purpose?"  
  
"I had to talk to you before things got any more heated between you and Lucas."  
  
"Things always get heated between Lucas and me. We wouldn't be us if we didn't start insulting each other as soon as we got into the same room. Even when we were friends we fought a lot."  
  
"You and Lucas, friends. You both tell the story of your relationship the same way but I still can't imagine the two of you spending time together by choice. I certainly can't imagine how Will ended up being conceived."  
  
Sami tried not to gag. "Why would you want to imagine that?"  
  
"That wasn't exactly what I meant."  
  
"What, then?"  
  
"Why did the two of you have sex? Was it just a casual, no big deal between friends kind of thing?" She balked as she saw the disgusted, annoyed expression on Sami's face. "Not that I have a problem with that. I've been with Lucas, too, I'm married to him, and in your situation I wouldn't have turned him down. Of course, he's no Eric, and probably no Brandon, either."  
  
"Nicole . . . please." Sami looked almost ill.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Please don't talk about your brother's sexual prowess, *my* brother's sexual prowess, or Lucas Roberts' sexual prowess. Or lack thereof."  
  
"I'm sorry. I was just wondering."  
  
"We only had sex once, Lucas and I. We were friends, we both had bad days, and we ended up on the floor in the Titan photo room. Then we decided we were better as just friends."  
  
"The floor of the Titan photo room." Nicole grinned. "Sometimes I think that's all that goes on at that place. I mean, you and Franco certainly couldn't walk past each other without a kiss at the very least, but I guess you don't want to talk about Franco, either."  
  
"Not particularly. I didn't come in here to chat. We can't stay here much longer without Lucas and Brandon wondering where we are. So what did you want to tell me that was so urgent you had to throw a glass of wine at me?"  
  
"I knew Brandon was taking you here tonight. That's why I made Lucas bring me here. I wanted us to have a double date."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I want to tell Lucas right in front of you that Will would be better off with his mother. But I want you to act civil to him, so that you're the victim and he's the bad guy, no question about it."  
  
"Why does it make a difference if you say it in front of me? It makes us look like we're working together."  
  
"I want you to be able to tell Eric what happened."  
  
"I could do that without it actually happening."  
  
"He could check with Lucas or Brandon."  
  
"Why would he? He hates Lucas and he almost never sees Brandon."  
  
"He's a brother. He'll probably make an effort to see Brandon now that the two of you are an item. It'll be one of those 'I don't want him to hurt my sister like his sister hurt me' kind of things."  
  
"Fine. Brandon knows what we're doing anyway. He'll lie for us. This is just causing a lot of unhappiness for all of us for no reason and I don't think we should do it."  
  
"Do you or do you not want to drive Lucas to take a drink?"  
  
Sami considered. "Okay. But in the future, check with me. No more spontaneous plans. They just aren't as good as the detailed, written out kind."  
  
"You write out your plans?"  
  
"Of course not. Just mentally."  
  
"Oh. You're ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah. You?"  
  
"Let's get it over with. Just remember, no matter how bad this is for you, it will be worse for my dear husband. The rest of us can get drunk and forget how miserable we are. He can't." She looked almost sorry, and Sami noticed.  
  
"You aren't having second thoughts about this, are you?"  
  
"No, no. I have to get Eric back," she declared firmly.   
  
"But?"  
  
"It's too bad we have to hurt Lucas so much. He isn't all bad."  
  
"He isn't all bad? He had something to do with Franco's death. You remember Franco, you were going to be maid-of-honor at his wedding to me?"  
  
"Really, you were going to dump Franco before you married him anyway, and you don't know Lucas did anything."  
  
"I know that while I was lying unconscious on the floor, Lucas was putting our son's life in jeopardy by trying to skip town with him and cracking up his car. Will went into a coma, Nicole! Do you know how few people wake up from comas?"  
  
"Well, in the past two years, Will did, and Lucas at the same time, and you after that lethal injection, and Austin after Brandon--"  
  
"This isn't funny!"  
  
"No, it's not." Sami decided against slapping Nicole only because she could now see that the wine she had thrown had not been her first glass of the night. "I'm sorry. It's just so stressful, being married to Lucas and missing Eric so much. Look, we'll just go out there and make it through the night, and then I'll never do anything without your telling me to again until we have Lucas drinking and Eric in my bed."  
  
"Deal."  
  
They re-entered the restaurant, and found Lucas and Brandon still talking.  
  
"There you are," said Brandon, upon seeing Sami. "Ready to go to our table?"  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to stay with your sister?" Sami asked as guilelessly as she could. "You said at work that you were in a good mood because you'd seen her, so if it would make your evening better to have her around, I'd hate to stop you."  
  
"Funny," put in Nicole before Brandon had an opportunity to respond, since she was sure that the only thing that would make Brandon's evening better involved finding out if Sami was a natural blonde, "He told me that he was in a good mood because of you, Sami. I guess he needs us both."  
  
"If that's what you want," came Brandon's reply, finally. Lucas only gave Nicole one of the what-the-hell-are-you-doing looks he had developed for use on Sami years and years ago. Unfortunately, it seemed to move Nicole even less than it had ever moved its original recipient.  
  
"It's what I want," replied Nicole firmly. "I think it's great that I'll get to see my brother twice in one day. I'm so glad Will had that doctor's appointment and I ran into you," she smiled.  
  
"Speaking of Will's appointment, how did it go?"  
  
"None of your business," Lucas replied sourly. That was how Sami had generally answered his questions about Will when she'd had custody, after all.  
  
Sami's promise to let Lucas be the villain tonight vanished. Surely Nicole didn't intend for her to listen to *that*. Lucas was being nasty even by his standards, which Sami knew from experience were roughly the same as her own. That is to say, worse than most peoples'.  
  
"None of my business? Lucas, I am his mother!"  
  
"Trust me, I know. I've been trying to forget."  
  
"Trying to forget, and trying to make Will forget. He won't , Lucas, I swear he won't! You are not helping your son by keeping his mother away from him!"  
  
"And you wouldn't be helping him if you tried to keep his father away from him, which you admit that you would do!"  
  
"Only because his father doesn't deserve him!"  
  
"Be that as it may, neither does his mother!"  
  
"His mother doesn't kill people and get away with it! His mother isn't a drunk, and married to another! His mother would never hit him!"  
  
"Sami, when are you going to drop that? You know you made it up! And as for the drinking, that's over and done with. And as for Franco, come back to that when you or one of your supercop relatives comes up with something that actually connects me to the crime! Why do you have to do this every day?"  
  
"All I asked was how my son's doctor's appointment went, and you won't tell me!"  
  
Lucas smirked. "Isn't it a shame that you wouldn't agree to joint custody last fall?"  
  
"I'm sure you'd be making my life miserable even if we did have joint custody."  
  
"You'll never know."  
  
"Yes, I will."  
  
"Oh? Care to tell me how?"  
  
"I only lost custody in the first place because I went to jail for a crime I didn't commit. No judge in his right mind would deny me joint custody if I sued for it. So I'll start with that, and work on getting you completely out of his life later."  
  
"Oh, that kind of statement should really work in your favor. I have papers proving that Will benefits from having me in his life! So when Nicole and I testify as to what you just said tonight, your judge isn't going to be quite so likely to let you start poisoning your son's mind. Right, Nicole?"  
  
"Huh?" Nicole had long ago learned to tune out Sami and Lucas' arguments. They were all the same, really. She had thought Sami would be willing to hold off on it for tonight since she had so much to gain, but apparently not. Maybe spending more time with Brandon would loosen Sami up.  
  
"You and I are going to testify that Sami shouldn't have any kind of custody of Will because she intends to confuse him. And he's already been confused enough for one lifetime since she had to lie about who his father was for two years!"  
  
"She isn't going to testify for you. She didn't even hear what you just said, so how could she? Unless you want her to lie in court. I know lying in court doesn't mean much to you, since you do it so often--"  
  
"And you don't?"  
  
"Sweetie," Nicole broke in, "I've told you before that I think Will would be better off with his mother in his life. How would you feel if your mother wasn't in your life?"  
  
"We admit that NICOLE would feel a lot better if your mother wasn't in your life," added Sami before she could stop herself.  
  
Lucas glowered at Sami. "'We?' Since when are you and Nicole 'we?'"  
  
"It's a habit of speech. And maybe we are 'we,' as in 'we, the people who have Will's best interests at heart.'"  
  
"That is a club you'll never join."  
  
"I don't have to join it. I founded it."  
  
"How? By lying to him from the day he was born?"  
  
"I was trying to protect him from you."  
  
"By acting like you were my best friend and letting me baby-sit him and play with him and take care of him until the fact that I'm his father, not his uncle, worked its way through your thick skull?"  
  
Sami shrugged. "You can't blame me for forgetting about that night. It just wasn't very memorable."  
  
"No, it wasn't for me, but you weren't drunk when it happened."  
  
Sami failed to take advantage of the opportunity to criticize Lucas for being drunk at all, ever, because she was so shocked that she had just made a remark about her child's conception in the presence of her new boyfriend, whom she was ignoring completely. This was not the way to behave on a first date, or anywhere, for that matter. She was turning herself into a hypocrite after telling Nicole that she didn't want to have this kind of discussion with her. So, Sami abruptly turned to Brandon, who did not seem to be able to decide whether he was bored, amused, or disgusted.  
  
"I'm sorry, Brandon, you don't deserve this."  
  
"It's all right, Samantha. But I demand your undivided attention for the rest of the night."  
  
"I think that can be arranged."  
  
"Good." He sealed his agreement to her proposal with a kiss.  
  
"And you can give me *your* undivided attention," Nicole informed Lucas, brushing her lips against his ear and then down his neck.   
  
Lucas very nearly flinched. Nicole had completely taken Sami's side against his in that argument. She'd been acting that way lately anyway, but her eagerness to get Will out of his life was becoming more and more evident every day, and this was her most blatant attempt yet. If he was forced to choose between Nicole and Will, there was no contest. None.  
  
Lucas forced himself to put his thoughts about Nicole out of his mind. He had to focus on controlling himself, on not letting Sami get any information that she might use to her advantage. Spending time with Sami was exhausting that way. Life had been much easier when she'd been on his side. Luckily, the rest of the night demanded very little of his attention. Nicole and Sami dominated the conversation by talking about little other than the weather and movies.  
  
"So, did you and my sister have a good reason for that stunt you just pulled?" Brandon inquired when he and Sami had returned to his car.  
  
"Stunt?"  
  
"Come on, Samantha. You know I know you better than that."  
  
"Nicole wanted to take my side against Lucas' in front of him so it would get back to Eric. I told her I'd tell him without it actually happening, but she was afraid he'd talk to Lucas. There wasn't really any reason to do it, but I wanted to throw her a bone so she didn't do anything more idiotic before I got my son back."  
  
"Idiotic? That's my sister."  
  
"I meant--"  
  
Brandon laughed. "Relax. I know Nicky. And I assume that your schemes are usually much more thought-out and successful than that."  
  
"Well, yes, they are."  
  
"Aren't you glad you're with someone who can appreciate that?"  
  
"I guess I am."  
  
"You just guess?"  
  
"You seem to have a pretty good opinion of yourself. You might not need me to stroke your ego quite this much." Sami promptly found puppy-dog eyes turned on her in full force.  
  
Sami sighed. "Brandon . . ." He continued to stare at her until a blaring horn made them both jump. "Watch the road!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Samantha. Your beauty was distracting me, but that's no excuse."  
  
"My beauty was distracting you?" she asked ironically.  
  
"Yes. You see, that's how you pay a compliment."  
  
Sami privately thought that she might not be too sure of that, but she answered him anyway. "Thank you, then. I didn't mean to tease you too hard before. I had a great time tonight except for having to see Lucas. And it is a relief to be with someone who understands me. I'm always going to care about Austin-"  
  
"That's what another guy likes to hear."  
  
"Let me finish. I'll care about him as a friend. He's always been really good to me. But I'm not what he needs and he's not what I need."  
  
"What do you need?"  
  
"Someone who realizes that just because I will do or say anything in some situations I'm not a one-note bitch. Someone who can be my partner without either of us feeling uncomfortable. Someone I can laugh with and who will be good to my son. Someone who will always have my back."  
  
"That's a kind of a tall order."  
  
"I didn't mean to scare you."  
  
"You didn't--"  
  
"What I meant to say is, so far you have done that, just as my friend and I'm really glad I met you."  
  
Brandon eased his car to a stop.   
  
"Why did you stop?"  
  
"This is where I live now. Up on the second floor from the top."  
  
"It's a nice building. But . . ."  
  
"I thought you'd like to come in and see my new place. If not, I'll be a perfect gentleman and take you home right now."  
  
Sami considered. She still had very little experience with actual dating, but the combination of the wine she had drunk and Brandon's attentiveness had given her a warm feeling that made her loathe to let the evening end yet.  
  
"I'd like to see your apartment."  
  
"Then come right this way." He ceremoniously jumped out of the car and ran around it to hold her door open for her.   
  
Brandon's apartment building was very nice; he claimed that the time he had spent living for free at the Kiriakis Mansion had allowed him to save enough money to live somewhere more expensive than he would have otherwise been able to afford.  
  
"There's only one bad thing about this place," he concluded as they arrived in his living room.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I haven't done this in it yet." With that, Brandon began to kiss Sami, exploring her mouth with his own. They broke apart briefly, and then began to kiss again. This time, Brandon began to play with the buttons that ran down Sami's dress.  
  
"What about that 'if I'm lucky, a goodnight kiss' thing you were telling me about when you first started asking me out?" Sami wanted to ask, but Brandon's hands felt good against her skin, and she remained silent. She felt a myriad of emotions, dominated by a vague confusion, as Brandon led her to his bedroom.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 3  
  
Lucas stared out his office window and watched the inhabitants of Salem go about their afternoon business. "I need a drink," he thought to himself. Well, you can't always have what you need. There was no way he would give Sami Brady the satisfaction of taking another drink. He wouldn't do that to Nicole, either. She must care about him to some degree. She was married to him. Then why . . . why was she so busily helping Sami last night? She had said, in no uncertain terms, in front of both of them, that Sami should have custody of Will when she KNEW that the only reason he had married her so quickly was his desire to solidify his claim to custody.  
  
He considered the previous evening. Nicole was very close to her brother Brandon. He had no doubt that she had known where he and Sami had been headed last night, and she had set up that confrontation.   
  
Equally as odd as Nicole pushing him to sign his son over to his arch-enemy was Sami agreeing to eat dinner with them. Sami hated him. She told him so every day, and in a variety of creative ways to boot.  
  
As far as Sami and her wonderfully friendly personality went, she hated Nicole, too. He couldn't quite blame her-- she knew that Nicole was one of the main reasons Lucas had been able to get custody instead of Carrie and Austin, and besides, Nicole had broken the heart of Sami's precious brother Eric. Lucas still wondered how Sami and Eric could be so close if Eric had stayed away from Sami and Salem for a good four years while Sami embarked on a spectacular downward spiral of self-destruction. The relevant fact at the moment, though, was that Sami hated Nicole.  
  
Had Sami blackmailed Nicole into helping her? That didn't seem likely. Lucas knew all about Nicole's "sordid" past, and he had destroyed the evidence. Eric obviously didn't know anything that he could have told Sami, since the only reason Nicole had broken her engagement to Eric was her fear that he would not be able to accept the past history that Lucas himself had barely blinked at. Nicole was probably right. Eric did seem to be quite the sanctimonious jerk when dealing with anyone but Sami.  
  
Still, Nicole's fear of her past coming back to haunt her was real, and perhaps Sami could have exploited it. Sami was the master. How such an innocent-looking girl, with round blue eyes and flowing blonde hair could invent and successfully implement so many disgusting schemes was beyond Lucas even after years of being her enemy and years more of being her friend. Had they ever been friends? Maybe ally was the better term. Lucas doubted that Sami could care for anyone. The woman wasn't capable of love or even like; he would probably be wise to keep Will away from her entirely.  
  
Determined to find a way to think about something besides the esteemed mother of his child, Lucas went to find Nicole. He could just ask her why she was working with Sami. If some kind of underhanded methods had been used against his wife, Sami would suffer. She wasn't the only schemer in town.  
  
Nicole's secretary informed Lucas that she was in the photo lab. He grimaced. The photo lab meant Eric Brady.  
  
Sure enough, Eric's voice came up the hall. Lucas decided to stop and listen.  
  
"I'll always be your friend."  
  
"Thank you, Eric. I don't know what I'd do without you." Lucas rolled his eyes. That was Nicole. He really didn't like it when she put on this "damsel in distress" act. Additionally, it was reasonably insulting to have your wife telling her ex-fiancé how much she still needed him.  
  
"What's wrong this time?"  
  
"Oh, nothing, just the usual. I really miss you."  
  
"Nicole. No."  
  
"You won't even let me touch you?"  
  
"Not like that!"  
  
"Don't you remember--"  
  
"Before you married another man? Yeah, I do."  
  
"Eric, I only married Lucas because . . ."  
  
"Because why? You always get this far in the conversation and then you won't tell me anything."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Fine, if that's how you feel, that's how you feel. But why did you come down here?"  
  
"Have you talked to Sami today?"  
  
"Not really, why?"  
  
"I was just worried about her. She seemed so upset about Will the other day. I did what I could to help, but I don't know if it was enough."  
  
"What did you do, besides marrying Will's jerk of a father to keep him away from Austin and Carrie, whom Sami wanted to have him while she was on death row?"  
  
"Eric, I'm sorry. But Lucas and I ran into Sami and Brandon at dinner last night, and Sami and Lucas started fighting about custody. Again."  
  
"Okay, so they had the exact same discussion they've been having since Lucas found out he was Will's father. Then?"  
  
"I tried to tell Lucas that I agreed with Sami. I think I made him mad, he's barely said anything to me since then."  
  
"If you're so miserable being married to him, that should make you happy."  
  
"He's not a bad man." Eric snorted. Lucas was unmoved. He was disgusted to realize that the best justification he could come up with for this was that Nicole thought she could get Eric to call Sami off of her.  
  
"Nicole, I do have to get this done today."  
  
"Okay. I'll get out of the way of the master photographer."  
  
"Bye, Nicole."  
  
"Bye, Eric-- Lucas!"  
  
"Hi."  
  
"I just came down here to show Eric the final result of that shoot he did last week. The one with that new model you said looked like she--"  
  
"Right." Lucas waved off the small talk. "Do you have a minute?"  
  
"As many minutes as you want, Sweetie."  
  
"Good, let's go to my office." He ushered her inside and locked the door behind them. Nicole eyed the locked door suggestively.   
  
"You think this is only going to take a minute? Not up to your usual standards." Nicole reached toward her husband. Lucas would have been tempted to forget about talking to Nicole had the discussion he had just overheard been about anything else. He caught Nicole's arms, trying to make the gesture look playful.  
  
"Let's talk for a minute."  
  
"What about?"  
  
"I think why you married me would be a good starting point."  
  
"Because I love you."  
  
"That isn't what you said at the time. You said you loved Eric and would marry me because I could protect you. And haven't I?"  
  
"Yes." Nicole squirmed.  
  
"Do you remember why I wanted to marry you?"  
  
"You said you loved me."  
  
"True. But why did I want to marry you right away, without giving you any time to back away from Eric?"  
  
"Will. You thought you would get custody if you were married."  
  
"Good. I'm glad to see that your memory is intact."  
  
"Is this about talking to Sami last night, then?"  
  
"You *are* smart. I knew there was a reason I liked you."  
  
"And it wasn't my brains," Nicole muttered.  
  
"What was that?" Lucas asked, even though he had heard clearly.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Okay. Nothing. Now, you know what *isn't* nothing?"  
  
"Sweetie, this is ridiculous."  
  
"Don't know the answer? I'll tell you. The fact that you married me so I could get custody of Will and then started trying to get me to give custody away. Look, I'm not mad at you. Yet. I want to know what's going on. Did Sami threaten you? Is she trying to blackmail you?"  
  
"Lucas, you have enough problems with her as it is." A nicely-crafted non-answer.  
  
"That's true, but I can deal with them, and her."  
  
"I hope you can. But there isn't any problem."  
  
"Then why were you crying on Eric's shoulder just now?"  
  
"I wasn't crying."  
  
"Figure of speech."  
  
"It was just business. We did talk about Sami, but only because, even though I hate her for the things she's done to you, she really seems to be heartbroken about losing Will."  
  
"Now she knows how I felt."  
  
"Then you have your way."  
  
"Are you trying to change that?"  
  
"No! Of course not, Honey."  
  
"Good. Fine. I trust you." About as far as he could throw a truck.  
  
"Can we get back to work now?"  
  
"Sure. See you tonight."  
  
They kissed each other good bye before Nicole nearly flew down the hall to her own office.  
  
She grabbed her phone and dialed quickly, hoping against hope that Sami left her cell phone on.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Sami! We have to talk."  
  
"What? Nicole?"  
  
"Yeah. Listen, Lucas thinks--"  
  
"Hold on. I'm in an elevator." A moment later, she resumed speaking. "Is there somewhere you want to meet?"  
  
"Where are you?"  
  
"Outside Eric's and my apartment."  
  
"Not at work?"  
  
Sami rolled her eyes. "I work in a hospital. They don't close on weekends, so I get my days off in the middle of the week."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"So." Sami's voice was vaguely snappy. "Where do you want to meet?"  
  
"Ballistix, in an hour or so?"  
  
"I can do that. I'll see you then."  
  
"Thanks. Bye, Sami."  
  
"Bye, Nicole." Then she added, "take care," although she didn't especially mean it except in the sense of "take care that you don't do anything stupid and blow my plans."  
  
*********  
  
Sami ran into Ballistix at the appointed time.   
  
"Sami, there you are!" Nicole looked undeniably nervous.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Lucas thinks something is going on."  
  
"Can you be a little more specific than that?"  
  
"He thought that you might be blackmailing me into helping you get custody of Will."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"That isn't enough?"  
  
"Well, you told him I wasn't, right?"  
  
"I'm not sure he believed me."  
  
"Come on. He obviously has a blind spot a mile wide when it comes to you. He doesn't even realize why you married him."  
  
"I married him because"  
  
"See, you can't even say it anymore. I don't know exactly why you married him and I couldn't care less. I do know that it wasn't for love, because anyone with two eyes and even a little bit of intelligence could see that you were head over heels for my brother."  
  
"Speaking of brothers, how did it go with Brandon last night?"  
  
Sami's stomach flipped upside down as she remembered where she had woken up that morning-- in Brandon's bed. Luckily, he was a heavy sleeper and she had been able to get up and dressed without bothering him. She had stood on his balcony, wondering if she felt miserable because of the amount of alcohol she had drunk the previous night or for some other reason, until someone came up behind her.  
  
"You were quiet this morning, Samantha."  
  
"There was no reason to wake you up."  
  
"Sure there was. You shouldn't be out here, all alone, after what happened last night." He leaned around her to kiss her, but the kiss was brief because Sami barely responded. Brandon stared at her face. "Oh, no. You regret last night, don't you? God, Samantha, I swear I thought you wanted me or I wouldn't have done anything, please, believe me."  
  
"No, it's not that. I don't feel like you forced me, not at all. Do *you* regret last night?"  
  
"I'm the one whose been trying to make this happen for almost a year now. I'm not the one who wandered out onto the cold balcony all alone when I could have stayed in a nice warm bed." He gave her a suggestive glance.  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Not the most ringing endorsement I've ever heard."  
  
"I'm sorry." She turned and kissed him, not as thoroughly as she had the night before, but firmly enough to get her point across. "I just can't believe that this happened so fast. I do *not* have the best history with men. You're the first man I've ever been with who wanted me."  
  
"I doubt that. If I am, it's because you turned down a lot of guys."  
  
Sami shook her head no. "How much of my dating history did you pick up when you were asking around last summer?"  
  
"I didn't ask around. I asked *you*. I know what you told me."  
  
Sami wasn't entirely sure that Brandon was speaking the absolute truth, but she may as well let it slide since she was going to explain anyway. "My first time was when I was seventeen. I was so excited to be dating a college guy. His name was Alan Harris and he date-raped me because he was obsessed with my sister Carrie. The first man I slept with by choice was Lucas. He was obsessed with Carrie, too, and was probably thinking about her. He was also drunk." She tried unsuccessfully to smile. "We talked about that last night. Then there was that one night with Austin, who was not only drunk but drugged, and, he thought I *was* Carrie. I didn't meet Franco until years later." She laughed ironically. "I actually gave him a speech almost like this. Anyway, he only wanted me for a green card, as you must know, and he was cheating on me with a stripper. He supposedly thought about her when he was with me because I disgusted him so much."  
  
Brandon pulled Sami even closer than he already had. "It was just bad luck, nothing more. You can't blame yourself for those stupid men. And they were stupid, all of them, to turn down a chance at spending time with you."  
  
"Well, Austin and I did try it eventually, as you know."  
  
"I'm glad you have him out of your system now. But I don't want to talk about *him*."  
  
"What do you want to talk about?"  
  
"I'd rather not talk." Brandon had once again begun to kiss her, and tell her how beautiful and special she was, and Sami had not arrived home until that afternoon.  
  
However, she hardly intended to tell all of that to Nicole.  
  
"The date was fine. You were there for most of it."  
  
"Where did you go afterwards?"  
  
"Just back to his apartment for a little while. So, have you seen Eric?"  
  
"Yeah. We talked for awhile earlier today. Lucas might have overheard some of the conversation."  
  
"You have to be careful about that."  
  
"I know, I know."  
  
"Don't worry too much. Like I said, he's fallen a long way in scheming ability. He's just not like he was when we worked together."  
  
"You don't have the respect for him that he has for you. Be careful."  
  
"I don't have the respect for him that he has for me because he doesn't deserve it. Honestly, the fact that he can't see what's going on between you and Eric even knowing your past kind of disappoints me."  
  
Nicole laughed. "It's so strange, the way the two of you hold each other to standards of evilness."   
  
Sami had been annoyed at first, but Nicole's laughter was contagious. The two emerged into Salem Place still smiling, and almost ran into Eric.  
  
"Sami! I haven't seen you, I was worried when you didn't come home last night." Nicole suppressed a cough.  
  
"I'm sorry. It was late and I'd been drinking, so I just stayed at Brandon's place."  
  
"Are the two of you really friends again now?" Eric looked from his twin to his ex-fiancé.  
  
"Yes!" Sami and Nicole answered together. Then Sami continued, "Nicole's been really great about helping me see Will and everything, since Lucas is being so unfair. I miss my little boy so much."  
  
"It's okay, Sami. I'll help you get him back." Nicole punctuated her statement with and affectionate half-hug which she hoped did not look too fake.  
  
"Thanks, Nicole. I'll see you later, I really have to be going."  
  
"You'll be home tonight?" Eric called after her.  
  
"Yeah. Will you? Want me to cook?"  
  
"That's an offer I'm smart enough not to turn down." Sami waved goodbye, and Eric turned his full attention to Nicole.  
  
"How did you and Sami end up here together?"  
  
"We just sort of ran into each other. You know how that happens, I mean, you ran into us too."  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"How did those pictures turn out?"  
  
"Great."  
  
"I knew they would. You're a great photographer."  
  
"I always have the best subjects at Titan."  
  
"But you liked it better when Sami had my job."  
  
"It's nothing against *you*. But yeah, I miss having both my sisters there. And Austin, too. I feel like a sell-out, keeping my job there after the way Kate and Lucas treated Sami, especially since Austin had the guts to leave."  
  
"Sami wanted you to stay there, do what you loved."  
  
"I know. If she'd asked me to quit, I would have."  
  
"I know. So does she. It's great that you guys mean so much to each other."  
  
"It is, I mean, she's my twin. I'm glad that you two are friends again. I love it that you're helping her. It reminds me why I fell in love with-- well, I shouldn't have mentioned that, but"  
  
"No! Mention it, please. Eric, I'm not even close to being over you." She moved closer to Eric, and he didn't pull away. Instead, he leaned down as if he might kiss her.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 4  
  
Sami sank into the cushions of her couch and let out a sigh which was intended to be contented but which sounded more exasperated than anything else. She and Brandon had crammed quite a few dates into the past several weeks, and he would be coming to pick her up again in a few minutes. She glanced at her clothing one final time, and was satisfied with what she saw.  
  
"You look fine, Sami," came Eric's voice as he emerged from his bedroom.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"When is Brandon coming over?"  
  
"Any time now." Eric made a face that would have been imperceptible to anyone but Sami, who shared virtually all of her twin's facial expressions and knew exactly what each one meant.  
  
"Is that a problem? Do you need me to do something for you?"  
  
"No, it's not that at all. I just want to talk to you and I barely see you even though we live together."  
  
"Will you be around tomorrow evening?"  
  
"No, I promised Greta."  
  
"That's the problem. We have to get our love lives in sync. Set up a double date or something. Would Greta go for that? I know she's still sometimes nervous around some people, and I seem to be one of them."  
  
"She likes you just fine," Eric assured. "She's a little bit intimidated by you because she knows how much you mean to me."  
  
"And she's heard stories about me."  
  
"Most of them true."  
  
"I didn't say they weren't. I hope they haven't ever caused *you* any problems, and I don't mean only with Greta."  
  
"They haven't caused any problems with Greta, because like I just *told* you, she likes you, and she knows better than to judge someone by the gossip mill. Anyway, she knows that John cares about you, and me, and Austin, so I don't think she thinks we could be wrong."  
  
"When did she and Austin get so close?"  
  
"I'm not sure. It seems to be a nice friendship, though. It's doing both of them good. I mean, she spent years living in a swamp all by herself and that can make you kind of insecure about your social skills." Both twins smiled.  
  
"And Austin has really been drifting loose since Billie and Carrie both left town," Sami completed the thought.  
  
"Right."  
  
"So what do you want to talk to me about? We can start now and finish later."  
  
"No, it's almost time for you to leave."  
  
  
"This is bugging you. I won't go. We'll talk."  
  
"It's not that big a deal. I mean, it could be, it's a lot of things, but it's not that big a deal."  
  
"Uh-huh. I can't believe my twin brother is such a lousy liar. I promise you that I will not have a good time tonight and neither will Brandon if you don't tell me what's bothering you."  
  
"Well, one thing *is* Brandon. How do you feel about him, really?"  
  
"I like him a lot. I'm glad we're dating, even if it is kind of soon after Austin."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Somehow, you don't seem completely happy. Right before I came in here, you looked more like you were waiting for a funeral than for a date with someone you like."  
  
"I do feel a little bit tired tonight, but it isn't Brandon's fault. If Brandon becomes the source of any of my problems, I'll break up with him faster than Belle can invent a new hairstyle."  
  
Eric laughed. "Okay."  
  
"What else?"  
  
"Nicole."  
  
"Has she done something?"  
  
"Not that I know of."  
  
"You're just still hung up on her."  
  
"I'm not sure I'd phrase it that way, but she was the first woman I ever loved."  
  
"Do you love Greta, too?"  
  
"I think so."  
  
"But you're sure about Nicole."  
  
"Yeah. Doesn't that make me an awful person?"  
  
"It makes you human, I think. Is there a specific reason you brought this up tonight?"  
  
"Partly just because she's Brandon's sister and I'm worried that Brandon might treat you like she treated me. We don't know a lot about what happened in their past, unless Brandon has opened up to you a lot in the last month or so." Sami responded in the negative by shaking her head. "And also because she called me while you were getting ready to go out."  
  
"What did she have to say?"  
  
"She wants to come over tonight to go over some things from work."  
  
"You're worried about being alone with her."  
  
"In my-- our-- apartment at night? Yes. Especially since Austin is living right next door and I know he's been giving Greta updates on what I do when we're not together."  
  
"Austin is *spying* on you for Greta? She trusts you that little? I think you might have bigger relationship problems than Nicole."  
  
"She wouldn't be this insecure if it wasn't for Nicole."  
  
"If you want me to cancel with Brandon and stay here, the offer still stands." Sami prayed that Eric would not take her up on that offer, though. Nicole was not going to help her knock Lucas off the wagon if she deliberately interrupted what she assumed was a seduction of Eric. Still, Eric was one person whose life she was unwilling to ruin to get her son a little bit more quickly than she otherwise would. Yes, he loved Nicole, but she wouldn't force them together while he still had strong feelings for Greta. Luckily, Nicole was unaware of this little piece of information.  
  
"No. I want you to go. Have a good time."  
  
"I will."  
  
On cue, a knock sounded on the door, and Sami hurried to join Brandon.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hi. Ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah." She shut the door behind her. "Movie tonight?"  
  
"If that's still what you want."  
  
"Okay." They headed for Salem Place. "This is one thing that's better about living here than in the Kiriakis Mansion. You can't really walk anywhere from there."  
  
"That's true."  
  
"Brandon?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Is anything wrong? You sound annoyed."  
  
"Aren't I allowed to sound annoyed once in a while?"  
  
"Of course. I was just wondering if there was something I could do to help."  
  
"It isn't about you, Samantha."  
  
"Still, if you wanted to tell me I might be able to help, or if you really feel that bad and you want to cancel tonight, or do something else . . ."  
  
"I'm fine!" Brandon fairly snapped. Sami did her best not to shrink away. Brandon suddenly looked much as he had the night he had boxed Austin and Austin had ended up in a coma. That had been an accident, though, and Brandon had been genuinely remorseful. If Sami had thought otherwise, she never would have forgiven him, let alone dated him. No one harmed Austin on her watch. Her primary concern was still Will, though, and Brandon could help her get him back.  
  
"Have you seen your Mom lately?" Sami tried for a new topic of discussion. She had only met Brandon's mother once, and she had liked her.  
  
"No. Why, having problems with yours?"  
  
"Of course not."  
  
"What 'of course not?' You went years without speaking to her."  
  
"That was complicated, and it was over before I met you. What does that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Nothing, nothing. I just thought you might be having problems with her being disappointed in you, and all. Since she's a hot-shot doctor at the hospital, and your sister was the public relations director, and you have to take orders from Nurse Brenda."  
  
"I think everyone takes orders from Nurse Brenda." Sami tried to laugh the remark off. Brandon obviously hadn't meant it the way she was tempted to take it.  
  
"That's right."  
  
"And Mom is happy that I'm working. And happy that I'm seeing you." She hoped this revelation would snap Brandon out of his foul mood.  
  
"She should be, considering the other men you've dated."  
  
That was too much. "What? Brandon, you have no right to say that. You can go to the movie yourself if you want to see it. I don't really care where you go, but I'm going home." She turned on her heel and moved purposefully back the way they had come. Brandon caught her in half a step and grabbed her arm tightly. "Let go of me. I swear I'll scream."  
  
All of the hatred vanished from Brandon's large eyes. He loosened his grip on her arm. "I'm sorry, Samantha. I had no right to say that, and I didn't mean to hurt you, physically or otherwise."  
  
Sami was relieved. "Well, can you let go of my arm, then?" Brandon did as he was asked.  
  
"Can we still go to the movie? I promise I won't take my mood out on you anymore. I'd really hate to ruin tonight."  
  
"Let's do it."  
  
Sami glanced up as they crossed the street. She only now realized that they were passing the Titan building, where she had worked, where she would still work if she hadn't been framed for murder. Her eyes instinctively sought Lucas' window, even after all these years of animosity. She forced them away, but not before she saw that his light was on. So he was working late. He could be spending time with their son, an option she did not have, and he was working instead. A small corner of her mind reminded her that once she would have been thrilled to see that light on. So much of her late adolescence had been spent running after Lucas to tell him some new bit of gossip or a brilliant idea that she had that would surely create some gossip if he was willing to help her put the wheels in motion.  
  
Those days were gone forever. She was an adult, a woman with a child, and he was her enemy. For a while, she had missed his friendship, but now she had a new life, with new people in it, and she only wanted to get Lucas out of Salem and out of her world. If there was one thing that she did not need, it was reminders of her shady, troubled, mistake-filled past. She did not care if there was a light on in his office.  
  
*********  
  
Lucas left the light on in his office as a cover. His mother and Victor knew that he would be here late; his excuse had been that he wanted to take the afternoon off to spend time with Will while he was awake and make up for it tonight. In actuality, his work had all been done long ago. The building was empty now, and he could do as he pleased without seeming suspicious.  
  
He pulled a key out of his pocket and slipped it into Victor's lock. He had copied it one day long ago when he had had some legitimate reason to use Victor's office. Legitimate? This was legitimate, too. If he discovered anything interesting that did not pertain to the matter at hand, he would promptly forget about it. But he had to find out of there was any information about Nicole in here. Had his mother and Victor done another background check on her? Was she involved in something of which he was unaware? Her behavior lately simply had not been that of a loving wife, or even of a friend who had been willing to marry for convenience.  
  
So, while the light in his office let all of Salem know that he was working, he used a flashlight to examine the contents of Victor's filing cabinets. His personal folders held nothing of special interest. Everything was dated quite recently, and most of it was medical.   
  
The Titan reports, then. Most of these he had access to; he only had to find a form or statement that he had not seen to know he had a potential lead. He was becoming discouraged when he heard a voice out in the hall. Willing himself not to panic, he shut the filing cabinet and left the office.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Lucas?" A woman came into view. It was Greta Von Amburg, the woman who should be out keeping Eric from looking at Nicole. It shouldn't be too difficult for her; Greta was very pretty, and some kind of royalty as well. Her mother had been a princess, at least. No one seemed sure who her father was.  
  
"Greta. What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm looking for Eric. He said he was working tonight when I called him, and I thought I would come surprise him."  
  
"He isn't here. No one else is in the building. How did you even get in?"  
  
She blushed. "I have key. Eric copied it for me. Please don't be mad at him," she rushed on, "I wouldn't do anything, I'll give it to you right now--"  
  
"Greta." She stopped. "I personally don't care if you have ten keys as long as you're careful with them." Greta remained frozen in place. "Relax. This isn't a serious thing."  
  
"Good. Thank you."   
  
"No problem. Come back to my office with me and I'll walk you out. This place is empty at night."  
  
"I didn't really notice. I got used to that, living alone for so many years."  
  
"I guess you would. I'm sorry you couldn't find Eric."   
  
"So am I. He's been getting harder to find lately. When I do find him, he's always with Nicole." She fairly spat out the name before realizing that she was speaking with the woman's husband. "I'm sorry, I don't mean anything against Nicole."  
  
"Don't worry about it. We aren't on the best terms at the moment, anyway." Lucas wondered if divulging that would prick Greta's interest. If Eric was spending time with Nicole, then the two of them might find a sharing of information mutually beneficial.  
  
Sure enough, Greta turned to him with unconcealed interest, although she said nothing. What could she say to that? Lucas decided to continue. "Nicole has Eric to help her with he problems, though. It's nice that they're able to stay such good friends after the way they broke up."  
  
"You don't think it's nice at all." So Greta had some spunk. Good.  
  
"I doubt that you do, either."  
  
"Friends is fine. But every time I see them . . ."  
  
"What?"  
  
"They look so intimate. Like they've kissed, or are about to. They flirt so much, and she's so much more aggressive than I am, I wonder how much Eric misses that. I wonder if they want to start their relationship again, like Nicole said, I mean, " she rambled.  
  
"It's okay. Tell me what Nicole said."  
  
"It wasn't anything. She just kept telling me about how nice her relationship with Eric was, and how she didn't think they'd ever really be out of each other's systems. They were each other's first true loves or something. I shouldn't be telling you this."  
  
"Why not? I asked you. And I know that a lot of what you've said is true. But can I tell you something?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Is it okay if I insult Eric a little? You insulted my wife."  
  
She smiled. "Sure."  
  
"In many ways, Eric Brady is a self-righteous, sanctimonious bastard. He would never cheat on you. I don't like him, but at the moment I trust him more than I trust my own wife."  
  
"I think you're right. But Nicole can be very persuasive."  
  
"She won't persuade Eric to walk away from you. Look at you, you're beautiful, you're sweet, I can't imagine that he'd want anyone else, even Nicole, after having you."  
  
"I wish I agreed with you."  
  
Lucas was relatively sure he wouldn't find anything more tonight. He could help Greta, though, and if he did it wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility that he would also help himself.  
  
"Let me take you to Eric's apartment. It isn't too late, you can surprise him there."  
  
"I don't think he'd like that."  
  
"Of course he would. I would."  
  
"You're sure?"  
  
"Let's go."  
  
They arrived at the apartment building quickly.  
  
"The light is on," Lucas announced. "See, he's home."  
  
"It could be Sami."  
  
"No, she had a date with Brandon."  
  
Greta gave him a questioning look, and he realized that it might seem odd that he knew his arch enemy's social calendar. He shrugged. "Brandon always tells Nicole and she insists on repeating it to me. I'm not sure why."  
  
Entering the building, Lucas was hit was a rash of memories. He had not been here for a while, but when he had first come to Salem he had spent much of his time here, in Carrie and Austin's adjoining apartments. Carrie he had visited in his fruitless quest to win her affection, and he had gone to see Austin either to play with his mind, such as it was, or to visit Sami and Will. He had loved Will so much when he had believed him to be his nephew. It was amazing that the love had become even deeper when he had discovered the truth. He was still shocked when he thought about Sami's willingness to lie about her son's father. That was how she treated her friends. Not so different from how she treated her enemies.  
  
No one answered Greta's knock on Eric's door.  
  
"You see, he doesn't want to be bothered. Let's go."  
  
"I don't want to leave yet."  
  
"Then I'll visit your brother. Want to come?"  
  
"Not especially. Let's let ourselves in. He won't mind."  
  
"Yes he will."  
  
"What if something happened to him?" Lucas hated having to play this kind of game with someone who had done nothing wrong, but he needed to know what Eric was up to tonight, and Greta was an unexpected way in.  
  
"You think something happened to him?"  
  
"Home alone. Light on. Not answering the door. We really should check."  
  
Greta took a deep breath and flung the door open. She looked inside, and turned and fled, forcing Lucas out of the way as she retreated down the hall. Lucas then looked in for himself. Eric and Nicole lay naked in each others' arms on the couch.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 5  
  
Sami arrived back at the apartment she shared with her twin brother just a few minutes after midnight. She had to be at work early the next morning, and she knew that she should go straight to bed, but she could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Her sixth sense, the one that reached out and curled itself around Eric, had been bothering her for much of the evening, but she had decided not to tell Brandon of her concerns. The bond that Sami and Eric shared tended to intimidate their friends, and Brandon was already irritable enough.   
  
Fearing that she had been over-reacting, and fearing even more that she had not, Sami tapped lightly on Eric's bedroom door before letting herself in. She crossed her fingers in the hope that he would be peacefully asleep.  
  
Instead, he was sitting on the bed, with his back to her, staring at the wall. A voice that sounded very unlike his broke the silence.  
  
"Usually, after you knock, you wait for someone the say 'come in.'"  
  
"Eric what's wrong?" The panic she had suppressed all night came out in full force now.  
  
"Not now, Sami." She ignored him. "Not now," didn't mean "not now" between them. It never had. She was not going to leave Eric here alone while he was feeling so miserable that she had sensed his pain from halfway across town, and there was no two ways about it. Instead, she climbed onto the bed with him and pulled him into a hug. As she had known he would, he returned the hug with surprising force.  
  
"Do you want to tell me what happened now?"  
  
"Are you going to ask me every two minutes if I say no?"  
  
"It's possible," she shrugged.  
  
"This might not be something you want to talk about with me," he warned. Just then, Sami knew what had happened. Eric knew she knew, and she knew he knew she knew, but they proceeded with the conversation as if this were not the case.  
  
"Tell me anyway."  
  
"I made a mistake. I think. I'm not sure it was a mistake. No, of course it was. I keep forgetting that."  
  
"Why was it a mistake?"  
  
"She's married. And I hurt Greta. God, I didn't mean to hurt Greta. She's been through enough, and I promised her I would never hurt her, but then I did." Eric wore an expression of pure self-loathing. "She won't talk to me. I know she's safe, at least, because Austin is playing her knight in shining armor."  
  
"You already TOLD her?"  
  
"I didn't have to. She saw, thanks to that husband of Nicole's." He sighed deeply. "But it's hard to feel superior to a man when you're having an affair with his wife."  
  
Sami inwardly remarked that she doubted that most men felt that way, and Eric looked at her and smirked. She hadn't needed to say it; the telepathy was on.  
  
"I'm not like those men, Sami, and I don't want to be."  
  
"I know you don't. I know."  
  
"I wish Greta did."  
  
"She'll forgive you. She'll even take you back if that's what you really want."  
  
"I don't know about that. And I don't even know WHAT I really want."  
  
"It's okay. You don't have to know right now. You've got time."  
  
"Time to keep ruining other peoples' lives, and my own?"  
  
"Eric, no. You haven't done that."  
  
"Tell that to Greta."  
  
"I may, if she doesn't come around in a few days. But I think she's smart enough to understand how rare someone like you is."  
  
Eric made a face. "And how someone like *Austin* is even rarer."  
  
When Austin's name was combined with such a derisive tone, Sami's mind instantly went to one person. That was one of a million little triggers that she could not eliminate from her mind no matter how much she wanted to do so.  
  
"So how did Lucas cause Greta to walk in on you?"  
  
"I'm not really sure. I just know that he was behind her when she walked in the door. I'm under the impression that he just walked her over here and convinced her to open the door without being invited in. We were asleep. I don't think she screamed or made any noise, but somehow I managed to open my eyes just when she came in. Sami, the look on her face . . . she just turned and ran out. Then Lucas came in. He never even looked at me, just grabbed Nicole's arm and told her to get dressed. She wasn't very awake, she didn't wake up until I stood up to try to chase Greta. The weird thing about Lucas was, he didn't even look surprised."  
  
"He didn't have much of a right to look surprised. It would have been hard to miss all those times Nicole was hitting on you. Although Lucas used to be a killer liar, so he might have been covering."  
  
"Whatever. I can't believe he didn't try to hit me. I think I would have let him."  
  
"Then I'm glad he didn't want to."  
  
"Me too, sort of. It might make me feel better to be punished."  
  
"You are being punished, by yourself. And you'll get it from Greta and Austin even if you never get it from Lucas."  
  
"Why would Austin be more interested than Lucas?"  
  
"You know that's how he is. He likes to protect people, and now he's protecting Greta. He always used to protect me, no matter what it did to his relationship with Carrie, so I'm sure he'd be willing to give you a couple of black eyes if he thought it would make Greta feel better. Which of course it won't, so he won't."  
  
"I guess you're right."  
  
"I am."  
  
"That isn't the real problem, though."  
  
"What is?"  
  
"I already said it. I don't know what I want."  
  
"What's wrong with that?"  
  
"It isn't fair to anyone. I've been thinking about this for a while. I should have done it before anything happened. I'm going back to Colorado."  
  
"You don't think that's over-reacting a little?"  
  
"No."  
  
"There's more to life than relationships. What about your job at Titan?"  
  
"It's given me a portfolio. I can get work somewhere else. Besides, I don't feel comfortable there anymore. I haven't since you and Carrie left."  
  
"Still, you won't get a job quite like that ANYWHERE. I know you're good, I'm more proud than I can tell you, but I'd hate to see you let that slip away."  
  
"I've thought of that too. And I'm not formally quitting yet. I'm asking for a year off, because I want to 'develop my photography talents in other mediums by working for a newspaper in Colorado.'"   
  
"You don't like that kind of work."  
  
"Kate doesn't know that."  
  
"She owns the Salem Spectator, too, you know. She might tell you just to take a job there."  
  
"If it comes to that, I'll quit outright. I don't think it will. That's her son's wife I was . . ."  
  
"I know. She'll probably thank you for that. She hates Nicole."  
  
"Has she ever liked anyone Lucas was involved with?"  
  
Sami smirked. "Carrie." Then her face fell.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You know what. I'm going to miss you so much."  
  
"I'll miss you, too. But we've done this before."   
  
"I know this is completely immature of me to say at our age, but I don't want to go another five years without seeing you!" Sami was almost crying, and she didn't care.  
  
"It won't be five years this time. I couldn't do that, and I don't have any reason to, since we AREN'T little kids confused about who our parents are anymore." He stared at his twin. "Sami, I don't want to leave you either. I can't tell you how it felt last summer when you were lying in that room. You actually DIED before they brought you back, and I swear that I felt it. If it weren't for Will, I'd try to get you away from this mess and back to Colorado, too. But this is something I have to do."  
  
Their eyes locked. "I know," Sami answered.  
  
They spent the rest of the night talking, since they did not know how long it would be before they had another opportunity to just discuss things face-to-face. When the time came for Sami to leave or face the considerable wrath of Nurse Brenda, Eric steeled himself to knock on the door of the apartment adjacent to his.  
  
Austin swung the door open. "You've got a lot of nerve, showing up here."  
  
"Is Greta still here?"  
  
"Yeah, she is, but she doesn't want to talk to you, so you can just leave."  
  
"She has to talk to me sooner or later. Not too much later, because I *am* leaving town with my head hung in shame, okay, Austin? Let me talk to her."  
  
"It isn't your decision."  
  
"Austin." Greta's voice interrupted the conversation that was well on its way to becoming a shoving match. "Eric's right, we have to talk sometime and we're both here now." Eric's already all-consuming guilt somehow got worse when he saw Greta's face. She was determined to go through with this conversation, but she looked as if she were in shock. Why had he had to hurt her?  
  
"Fine," answered Austin tightly. Then his voice softened. "It's your decision. I'll be next door if you need me." With that, he walked into Eric's apartment. Eric was slightly annoyed to realize that he didn't have much right to make a snide remark about asking permission to enter someone else's home, especially since Austin was only trying to stay close enough to support Greta while not eavesdropping on her conversation.  
  
"Well?" asked Greta. "Did you just come here to stare at me?"  
  
"No, no. I came here to apologize, but everything I think of to say to you sounds like such a cliché."  
  
"Say it anyway. Chances are even if it is a cliché, I haven't heard it before." It had been a long time since such bitterness had entered Greta's voice.  
  
"I didn't mean to hurt you."  
  
"You didn't mean to have sex with Nicole or you didn't think your having sex with her would hurt me?"  
  
Eric winced. "The first one."  
  
"So it's just that sometimes sex is something you have no control over?"  
  
"I should have been in control. I shouldn't have done it."  
  
"We agree on something, then."  
  
"I know you're upset."  
  
"I'm beyond upset. I'm so upset I don't know what to say to you. Eric, I was burned by ACID. I thought I would never recover from those scars. I thought I was so ugly that I needed to hide myself in a SWAMP, and cover myself with mud! I was afraid that Stefano DiMera would find me and hurt me. I lived my whole life alone and afraid. I didn't trust anyone, but I trusted YOU! But that doesn't matter to you, does it? It doesn't matter that you were the only one I ever believed when you said I was beautiful."  
  
"You are beautiful."  
  
"Just not like Nicole."  
  
"You're at least as beautiful as Nicole."  
  
"But not enough to make up for how good she is in bed? Or on the couch, or the floor, or wherever else it is you did it. No, I was a virgin and I would have bored you, so you decided I wasn't even worthy of the time it would have taken to break up with me before you went back to Nicole."  
  
"I didn't go back to Nicole."   
  
Greta glared. "Just not officially, because she's still married. I don't understand Salem. I don't understand you people. I never should have left Europe. I guess I'll go back now, to be out of your hair."  
  
"You don't have to do that."  
  
"I'm not doing it for you!"  
  
"I'm leaving Salem, Greta. I'm going to Colorado, maybe for a year, maybe more."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Is there anything else you want to say to me?"  
  
"I don't even want to look at you."  
  
"Then just listen for a second. I care about you. I like you. I love you. I think you're beautiful and caring and funny and intelligent. I'm grateful for the help you've given my family. I don't want you to think that because of last night everything I ever told you was a lie. If there was a way I could prove that, I would do it."  
  
Greta stared at him, unmoved.  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I have never been sorrier about anything in my life. Can you forgive me?"  
  
"This time yesterday I was planning a romantic evening for us, twelve hours ago I walked in on you and your ex-fiancee naked, and you want me to have forgiven you already?"  
  
"No. But I hope you will someday. Sami will have my address if you ever want to have anything to do with me again."   
  
"Have a nice trip," said Greta sarcastically.  
  
Austin re-entered the room as soon as Eric left it.  
  
"How are you?"  
  
Greta looked at him, puzzled, as if he had asked the question in Greek.  
  
"Greta?"  
  
"I thought I would feel so much worse. But somehow, I'm just glad it's over."  
  
"Do you want to lie down now? I know you didn't sleep last night."  
  
"Neither did you. Eric obviously didn't, either, so probably Sami didn't."  
  
"Or Nicole or Lucas."  
  
Greta made a face. "Let's not talk about any of them." Then she reconsidered. "Do you suppose Lucas is all right?"  
  
"I think Lucas knew this was coming."  
  
"So?"  
  
Austin shrugged. "Lucas is no saint."  
  
"That doesn't mean he can't be hurt. Besides, I hear stories everywhere about what he did when he was seventeen, or twenty-one, and none of it seems like the person I was talking to yesterday."  
  
"Be careful around him. He's not always what he seems."  
  
"Who is?" wondered Greta, as she thought if Eric, and her brief feeling of relief was replaced by an odd combination of depression and fury. The emotions surprised her, and she was glad Austin was there.  
  
****************  
  
Across town, as Austin had predicted, neither Nicole nor Lucas slept that night. Lucas did not say a word as he and Nicole made their way home to the mansion made exactly to Nicole's specifications. Nicole several time considered breaking the silence, but always decided against it. She was somehow afraid. She knew that Lucas was not like her father, or her brother, and would never hurt her physically. But the way that Sami talked about Lucas' scheming ability when he was not hindered by "a blind spot a mile wide," with an almost reverent tone, was certainly cause for concern.  
  
Lucas finally spoke upon entering his home. "Go take a shower. Wash *him* off of you. Then come find me." Nicole did as she was asked. An amicable divorce from Lucas would be much better for her bank account than a messy one. And the state of her bank account would determine the state of her relationship with Eric.  
  
"Lucas?" Nicole didn't dare call him by any of the endearments she had been using since soon after their marriage.  
  
"In here, Nicole." She stood before him.  
  
"Have a seat." She sat. "Now. Don't you ever go near Eric Brady again."  
  
Nicole changed her mind about giving in to Lucas. "You can't tell me who to go near. You don't own me."  
  
"You see this mansion? You like it? You want it?"  
  
Nicole was silent.  
  
"You've been bought and paid for."  
  
"That's not true. I have my own money. I can leave."  
  
"You do not have the connections I have. If you divorce me now, I promise you won't get a dime. And the REASON for our potential divorce works in my favor as well. I'll get anything that you happen to have from your modeling jobs, too. And I'll see that you never model again. Is that clear?"  
  
"You can't do that."  
  
"Not personally, but Titan is a big company, and I think Victor Kiriakis is on my side. I haven't noticed him liking you much. And you don't even have Sami and Eric to help you anymore. Sami will cut you loose as soon as she gets her claws into will and you know it. And as I said, you don't talk to Eric. I can also have him fired, you know."  
  
"He's your best photographer."  
  
"Best isn't only, DEAR. Tastes are always changing, anyway."  
  
"How long do you want to continue with this sham of a marriage, then?"  
  
"At least until the next custody battle is over. That's if you're lucky."  
  
"And if I'm not?"  
  
"Then you will play my loving wife indefinitely."  
  
"I won't play your loving wife. I'll sleep with every man in town but you."  
  
"That stuff I said about seeing Eric? That goes for the rest of the male population of Salem, too. And you *will* be sleeping with me. But only sleeping. I don't want you moving out of our bedroom because I don't want Will to report to Sami."  
  
"I can report to Sami myself."  
  
"And I'm sure you do. And I'm sure she takes everything you say with a grain of salt."  
  
"Even if she does, she has no reason to doubt anything I tell her."  
  
"And less reason to care. Let me tell you a little about Sami. She can hold a grudge until the end of time. You hurt her twin." Lucas rolled his eyes, as he always did at the mention of the oh-so-special relationship between Sami and Eric. "You are on Sami's hate list until the end of time."  
  
Nicole decided not to cross Lucas until she had spoken to Eric. Still, she couldn't resist one more stab at him. "Sooner or later, you're going to want a real wife. A real friend. You won't have anything but an enemy under your roof until you divorce me. That won't be easy for a recovering alcoholic."  
  
"That's it, isn't it."  
  
"What?"  
  
Lucas wasn't really talking to Nicole anymore. "That's what Sami wanted with you. She asked you to make me take a drink. It won't work. I'm better than her. I'm better than both of you." He came back to reality. "Ready for bed?"  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
"Nope, not in a very funny mood today. I'm not sure why."  
  
So, after a night of lying on opposite sides of the bed pretending to sleep, Lucas and Nicole went into Titan together. Alone in his office, Lucas almost wondered if he should just set Nicole free. He did not get quite the pleasure out of making other people miserable that he once had. Then a man whom he did not know handed him an envelope filled with papers.  
  
"So this is what Sami and Brandon work on when they're at work together," he said to himself. "I guess Nicole will be staying with me a little while longer."  
  
The papers informed him that Will's custody hearing would occur one week from that day.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-part 6  
  
Everyone in the room had been to hearing like this one before. Several times. "This hearing will determine the custody of William Roberts," the judge was saying. Sami and Lucas flashed each other cool looks across the room. Nicole sat next to Lucas, looking discontent, but a sideways glance from her husband forced a smile to her face. Behind them sat Kate and Victor; Sami's mother and father were there as well, Lucas noted.  
  
"In this state alone, there are thousands of children who are somehow harmed   
by their parents. They are unwanted or unloved, forced into a well-intentioned foster care system that allows far too many children to slip through its cracks. William is lucky enough to have two parents who care about him very much. However, he is hurting as well, having been through FAR too many custody battles in far too short a period of time." The judge paused to glare at the assembled families. "It is the abiding hope of this court that this will be the FINAL upheaval in this young boy's life. Because of the obvious complications of this case, we will discuss all aspects of the situation in more detail than   
is average. Failure to abide by the decision will result in large fines and potential jail time. Is that understood?"  
  
She sounded like a kindergarten teacher lecturing her more unruly students. Not entirely inappropriate considering the way Will's parents sometimes acted, though, Lucas thought.  
  
"Samantha Brady, the mother, will speak first. We would like to have some additional background information to help us understand the need for so much legislation so far. Miss Brady, why have there been so many custody battles surrounding your son?"  
  
Lucas rolled his eyes as Sami lowered hers. He knew these tricks; he had coached her on them. Sami began to speak in a less powerful voice than she ever used in her everyday life.   
  
"Will wasn't lucky enough to be born to a married, loving couple. I was only seventeen when I became pregnant, and I was alone and scared. And I was guilty, more guilty than I can describe, that Will wouldn't have parents who loved and supported each other. But I did everything in my power to make sure he was happy anyway. No one can say I wasn't a good mother. And because until my ex-fiancé's murder I was the only constant in Will's life, I felt that as a good mother, I had to try to keep custody. I mean, even his father admits that he doesn't sleep well when he doesn't see me."  
  
"If his father 'admits,' as you say, that your son needs you, that seems to me to be an indication that you are both concerned for your son's welfare, correct?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then why have you repeatedly attempted to keep him from having any sort of custody? You even refused to sign joint custody papers just last autumn?"  
  
"Lucas may have good intentions, but he cannot provide Will with the role model that he needs. He used underhanded methods to get custody of Will in the first place, and he even hit Will while he was drinking a few years ago. He could slip back into alcoholism at any time, and his trophy wife isn't any better."  
  
Lucas sat up straighter and waited for the judge to object to the child abuse comment. There would be hell to pay if she didn't.  
  
"Miss Brady, you may not make such accusations in this courtroom. Mr. Roberts was not convicted of child abuse and you cannot provide any evidence that he has continued to drink, can you?" Sami shook her head mutely. "Please stick to established facts."  
  
"The established facts are that I only lost custody in the first place because I was sent to prison for a crime which I did not commit and of which I have since been acquitted. Will has never been unhappy in my care, and he is unhappy when I am not around. Custody should have reverted to me when I was released from prison last summer."  
  
"Thank you. Mr. Roberts, I would like to ask you the same question. "Why has your son been forced through so many custody battles before his fifth birthday?"  
  
"I had no involvement in most of those custody battles because Will's mother lied to me about who his father was. When I did find out, she wanted me to have no involvement in his life, even when she was in prison and unable to care for him herself. She would not even agree to joint custody when I offered it to her last fall, as you have already mentioned."  
  
"And to spite her you do not wish to agree to joint custody now?"  
  
"I believe that she hates me so thoroughly that if she is granted any sort of custody she will attempt to confuse our son. She has also already stated to me that joint custody is 'a start' and she will take Will from me entirely at the first opportunity."  
  
"So, rather than risk this behavior from Miss Brady, you would prefer to deny your son any sort of contact with his mother?"  
  
"I do not deny him contact with his mother now. I understand that he would be the victim if he was forbidden to have contact with his mother, but I also know that he would suffer if he was not allowed to see me. I don't think that his mother agrees with me on this point. In addition, when he is with me, Will has a stepmother. When he is with his mother, he does not have a stepfather, and in addition, his mother has considerably fewer financial resources than I do, so when she is working she cannot ensure that Will has consistent child care. Several years ago, she left him with a neighbor she barely knew and the neighbor kidnapped him and sold him on the French black market. That was the reason for one of the custody hearings on your list, I believe."  
  
"Thank you. Miss Brady, please tell me why you decided to have a child with a man whom you detest."  
  
"I was seventeen and my judgment wasn't the best. I had been raped and then been told by everyone from my rapist to the tabloid newspapers to strangers in a club that it was my own fault. Lucas was my friend at the time, and he got rid of some men who were hitting on me. I just wanted to feel better about myself, and my situation. It was one night."  
  
"Mr. Roberts, do you agree with that assessment of the situation?"  
  
"Yes. We were friends at the time, and we probably still would be if it was up to me."  
  
"You would befriend a woman whom you have accused of attempting to keep your son from you, of lying to you, and who accused you of child abuse?"  
  
"I would certainly be civil to her for my son's sake, but she is not willing to make that an option."  
  
"Miss Brady, why is civility 'not an option?'"  
  
"My son's welfare is at stake. I can be accused of being many things, but I can't be accused of being a bad mother. Will's father kidnapped him, and then put his life in danger by getting drunk and getting behind the wheel of a car. He says that he can take better care of Will than I can because of his financial situation, but I do not agree that his ability to buy a pony for Will automatically makes him a fit parent."  
  
"You previously stated that Mr. Roberts was once your friend, and now you are perilously close to stating that he is your enemy. If you believed that he could change from your friend to your enemy, why do you not believe that he can change back?"  
  
"I am concerned that it was my perception that changed, not his actual behavior. Before Will was conceived, I remember being in a car with Lucas while he was drinking and driving at least twice, and he was underage at the time as well. We were very nearly in an accident once."  
  
"Is this true, Mr. Roberts?"  
  
"No, it is not true, your honor."  
  
"WHAT?" exclaimed Sami from across the room, finally breaking the tension that had been created during what had probably been the longest amount of time she and Lucas had spent in the same room without a fight in years. "YOU KNOW THAT HAPPENED, LUCAS! THIS IS WHAT YOU PLAN TO TEACH WILL, HOW TO LIE?"  
  
"Miss Brady!"  
  
"Your honor, he is lying and he knows it!"  
  
"Miss Brady, you will control yourself in this courtroom! And as for the relevance of an action Mr. Roberts took prior to his son's birth, it is practically none. The relevant fact is that he has not continued to drink after promising not to do so. Is that clear?"  
  
"Yes. I apologize, your honor."  
  
"I was only attempting to understand the intricacies of your relationship. None of the previous custody arrangements have held, so it was decided that a more in depth approach needed to be taken to discover the underlying problem. If this type of behavior continues, I will have the child placed in foster care until his parents learn to stop using him as a weapon."  
  
"It will not happen again, your honor."  
  
"Good." The judge turned to Lucas. "Tell me how you met your son's mother."  
  
"She was interning for my mother's company and my mother asked her to meet me when I came into Salem from school."  
  
"Another lie," Sami mumbled under her breath. The judge's head snapped up.  
  
"Miss Brady?"  
  
"I'm sorry, your honor, I didn't mean to say anything. I was just so nervous."   
  
Lucas tried not to laugh. He was amazed that Sami's slave-to-fortune act always seemed to work. Still, he was sick of her attitude, and angry at himself for consistently trying to be fair to him when she hadn't shown him that courtesy since realizing he was Will's father. He probably should tell the judge about the very first time he had met Sami; he could even make sure to describe in great detail the expression she had gotten on her face. Yes, your honor, that was really when Will was conceived, right then. Sami couldn't wait to get me with my clothes off again . . . it wasn't true, but it would really irk Sami. And since Sami went out of her way to annoy him, well, turnabout was fair play.   
  
He snapped himself back to reality.  
  
"There will be a twenty minute recess. I expect everyone to be ready to control themselves when we resume."   
  
Lucas was struck again by the resemblance of the judge to Will's preschool teacher.  
  
"Lucas."  
  
He turned in his seat to look at his mother. "You think it's going okay?"  
  
"Okay? Sami's lost her temper and you haven't! It's going beautifully."  
  
"Still, she's only suing for joint custody now, and she hasn't done anything to establish that she doesn't have a right to see her son."  
  
"Oh, she only lied about his paternity, drugged her own sister's fiancé so she could rape him, kidnapped her other sister, should I go on?"  
  
"None of that has anything to do with how good a mother she is, at least that's what this judge seems to think."  
  
"Then you can just be glad that Victor knows this judge."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Victor knows this judge. They've worked together before."  
  
"I heard you. Why didn't you tell me before?"  
  
"I wasn't sure, and he wasn't sure. He hasn't said anything yet, but he will if he has to, and his presence here should be enough."  
  
"This is great. Where is Victor, anyway? He was here before?"  
  
"Some minor crisis at Titan. He was trying to handle it on his cell phone so he's probably just outside if you want to check."  
  
"I think I will." Lucas stood, and turned to Nicole. "Are you just going to stay here, *Sweetheart*?"  
  
"Better than being with you, *Dear*."  
  
"Just make sure you don't say that in front of the judge if you have to speak."  
  
"Or what?"  
  
"You know what."  
  
"I'm not sure I care anymore, though. I didn't have money when I met you. I can deal with not having money again. It just isn't worth staying in this town when Eric's gone, anyway. I'm just going to tell the judge that I don't care *who* gets custody of the little brat."  
  
"New rule. You do not *ever* refer to my son as 'the little brat' no matter where you are or who you're talking to. And when I win custody, I don't want you near him except when we're all out in public and we have to put on a show. Understand?"  
  
"For the moment."  
  
"Fine." Lucas left, and was pleased to see his mother lean forward to discuss something with Nicole. He knew that his mother would get the upper hand on Nicole-- she always did-- and any time Nicole spent arguing with someone else was time she couldn't spend arguing with him.  
  
Outside, Lucas quickly caught sight of Victor, but he stopped his approach when he realized Victor was speaking to Roman Brady. He stepped aside to listen.  
  
" . . . I saw you leave partway through the hearing. I hope nothing too serious is wrong."  
  
"I didn't know you concerned yourself with my business, but no, nothing is wrong."  
  
"Good. I'm glad for your sake just because I really am grateful to you for helping my brother and sister-in-law and nephew out a few months ago. They're getting settled in their new house and I know they owe a lot of their happiness to you."  
  
"I certainly am glad they're happy. Did you have a reason you really wanted to speak to me?"  
  
"No, that's it. I'm glad Titan is doing well. Even a big company like that can be rocked by a scandal."  
  
"What kind of a scandal did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well, one of your models was brutally murdered not that long ago. And if the case was re-opened it would put the spotlight back on several of your executives. I mean, I personally never stopped thinking that it was very interesting that a few moments after Franco was murdered Lucas grabbed his son and tried to get out of Salem in a rented car, almost as if he didn't want to be chased, and then we have the little matter of his mother sending him out of town the day of Sami's execution and his rush back here to confess."  
  
"Franco is dead. Roberto killed him. The whole matter is over and done with, and I don't see that it has anything to do with this hearing."  
  
"Everything is connected to everything else if you look hard enough, not that it takes too much effort to realize that Sami would not have lost custody in the first place if she had not been sent to death row for a crime she didn't commit. I'm sure she'd be a lot more inclined to let sleeping dogs lie if the outcome of this hearing was fair."  
  
"Fair?"  
  
"I seem to have heard that you know this judge, and I would hate for that friendship to cloud the outcome of the hearing."  
  
"Just what are you accusing me of?"  
  
"Nothing. Like I said, I just came over to give you a little update on Bo and Hope and Shawn. And I see that Sami and Marlena are back, so if you'll excuse me . . ." Roman walked off and Victor turned back toward the building.  
  
"Lucas, how long have you been standing there?"  
  
"Just a few minutes."  
  
"Long enough to hear the threats he made against Titan?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"As far as that goes, Titan would be able to deal with another murder trial just fine, but I don't know that you could. You've gotten away with murder, Lucas. I don't want to give Roman Brady an excuse to start chasing you again."  
  
"I wouldn't ask you to. I think everything will be all right without your intervention."  
  
"Good. Where is your mother?"  
  
"Inside with Nicole."  
  
"Is she under control?"  
  
"It's almost disappointing how easy it was."  
  
"Don't count her out yet."  
  
"I haven't. But she knows where she stands."  
  
Nicole proved Lucas right during the conclusion of the hearing, during which the predictable outcome was reached: joint custody. The court even went so far as to specify that Sami and Lucas were to have custody in alternate weeks, switching on Saturdays, and that Lucas would get the first week because he had full custody at the moment. The papers were quickly signed, including the agreement to stay in the country. Lucas hadn't much wanted to leave Salem, anyway. He knew it would upset his son, and his own mother was here as well. His entire childhood had been spent with her and her alone, and he was grateful for their close relationship, no matter what Nicole or Sami happened to think of it.  
  
He saw out of the corner of his eye that Sami was still hugging her parents and thanking them. She was especially thanking her father; whether that was because she was always overly affectionate with him or because she knew he'd made a point of arguing with Victor Lucas did not know. Soon Roman and Marlena walked off together, looking oddly friendly for a couple who had gone through a divorce so bitter it had turned their daughter into a near-psychopath, and Sami was alone. She glanced in Lucas' direction, and he knew he was in for another argument. Fine with him. He could handle Nicole and he could handle Sami, too.  
  
"You see? I told you I'd get my way."  
  
"And now you're here to gloat. Very mature. I'm sure you'll set a great example for Will."  
  
"I don't think you should talk about that. The last time we did this, you ran over to a camera so you could gloat at me while I was on death row for a crime I didn't commit."  
  
"Yeah, being accused of crimes you didn't commit isn't much fun, is it?"  
  
Sami glanced around quickly before dropping her voice to a harsh whisper and answering Lucas. "I only said that to protect my son. I don't care if you were drunk and playing airplane and dropped him on his head or feeling violent and hit him on purpose, you still hurt him! No one believed me when I said you were drinking too much because obviously no one cares enough about you to pay much attention to you, but they paid attention when they thought you might be violent!"  
  
"I can't believe it. You actually remember the truth."  
  
"So do you, I take it? None of this story you fed Carrie about having nothing to do with Will getting hurt? Do you also miraculously remember that time you almost killed yourself and Jamie and me because you were drinking and driving?"  
  
"That has nothing to do with anything. The judge said so, or weren't you listening?"  
  
"You still perjured yourself."  
  
"I didn't have to, though. And as far as it goes, I wasn't drunk that day. The car swerved because I was looking for the beer, not because I was drinking it. If I had been drunk and you had been stupid enough to get in the car with me, you would have gotten what you deserved. You, on the other hand, HAD to lie to get custody."  
  
"I did not. You weren't convicted of child abuse, or has that slipped your selective memory?"  
  
"Accused is almost as bad as convicted."  
  
"It is not. You NEVER would have gotten custody if you'd been convicted, not the next year, not in ten years."  
  
"And that would have made you very happy."  
  
"YES!"  
  
"I can't believe you, Sami. I can't believe you hate me that much. I should have told the judge all about how we really met, but I thought you'd be embarrassed if I did."  
  
"You were thinking of yourself, as always. You didn't do that for me."  
  
"What do you mean? All I was doing was spending time with a friend, who happened to be a celebrity. YOU broke into said celebrity's dressing room to stare at me, and you obviously liked what you saw enough to want to try it for yourself."  
  
Lucas' cockiness in the face of what should have been a defeat for him caused something inside of Sami to snap. Her heart had broken each time he had reminded her that he had custody and she did not. Now she had begun to turn the tables, and he would feel it! The words flowed easily off her tongue. "If it weren't for Will, that would have been the worst mistake of my life. I hate you. I hate you more than I've ever hated ANYONE, ever. I wish you had died that night you tried to kidnap Will and you both ended up in comas. I wish you had gotten AIDS from one of your stupid conquests. I hope that you end up leading a miserable, lonely life after I get Will away from you for good!"  
  
"You know what Sami? I don't even care about you that much anymore. I used to worry about you because we used to be friends, and hey, you're Will's mother. But now, after hearing this, I don't even care if you live or die. I just wish I had never seen your face."  
  
With that, they parted company.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-part 7  
  
William Roberts stared at the ceiling. He had been promised glow-in-the-dark stars for decoration, but Mommy hadn't gotten them yet. He missed his room at his other house, but he was pretty sure that he would be going back there tomorrow, if he could just make it through the night. Of course, when he was there, he missed Mommy . . . if he just had his glow-in-the-dark stars, he was sure he would be able to sleep.  
  
Will decided to get up. He crept to the entrance to the living room and saw that his mother was still talking to Brandon. When she had put him to bed what seemed like hours ago, she had said she would come back as soon as Brandon left. If Will had known how to roll his eyes, he would have done so. As it was, the expression on his small face was strikingly similar to one his father often wore.  
  
Sami and Brandon were trying to keep their voices low out of respect for the sleeping four-year-old in the next room, but they were becoming less and less successful.  
  
"All I said was that Austin didn't have any brain cells to spare! And he doesn't! Come on, Samantha, any person of even average intelligence would have seen through those little tricks you pulled on him for years. I mean, setting all the clocks in his apartment back so he wouldn't know it was time to meet Carrie? That's lame. That's all I'm saying."  
  
"You have no right to speak about Austin that way! He believed me because he's a trusting, caring person! If you are going to say that about my best friend, then you're no friend of mine, let alone more, so you can just leave."  
  
"Samantha, calm down."  
  
"No! I will not calm down!"  
  
"I thought you had a sense of humor."  
  
"I do. But calling Austin stupid is NOT funny! And this started when you practically said you weren't sorry you beat him into a coma."  
  
"No, I said I WAS sorry because he didn't have the brain cells to spare. You can't have it all ways."  
  
"Austin has been my friend for a long time and I've known you for a year. Your idiot sister broke my brother's heart and helped Lucas steal my son. So the way I'll have it, if I can't have it all ways, is the way where you leave!"  
  
"I won't leave. Not like this."  
  
"You will." Sami shoved Brandon toward the door, and he turned to stop her.  
  
"Let's talk about this. I don't want you mad at me."  
  
"I'm only going to get madder at you if you don't leave." Sami gave Brandon another nudge. He moved like the athlete he was to avoid her, and in the process his open palm cracked against her cheekbone. Stunned, Sami stepped back.  
  
"If you don't leave right now, I will call the cops. And I happen to have several of them on speed dial."  
  
"Samantha."  
  
"Then I'll scream for Austin. He's right next door and these walls are thin." Sami prayed that Austin was actually home.  
  
"GET OUT!" She yelled as much to assure herself that she could if she had to as to frighten Brandon into moving.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow, and you'll feel better--"  
  
"Leave!" Brandon left.  
  
Sami locked the door behind him and took a deep breath to calm herself before making her way into Will's room. He was lying under the covers, and he seemed to be deeply asleep. Good.  
  
"Will? I just came in to say goodnight again." Will did not respond, so she kissed his forehead and left the room, sorry that this would be the last time she kissed him goodnight for a long week.  
  
**************  
  
The next morning, Lucas wasted no time in personally retrieving his son from Sami's apartment. Sami stood in the hallway and watched them leave. She was surprised when she felt arms encircle her from behind.  
  
"Austin?"  
  
"Who else?"  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"I'm okay. How are you?"  
  
"As well as expected considering I probably won't see him for the rest of the week."  
  
"Who? Will or Lucas?"  
  
Sami turned to glare at Austin.  
  
"Okay, okay, not funny. I know how hard it is for you not to see Will every day. But I hope you remember its hard for Lucas, too."  
  
"Lucas has his pet trophy wife to keep him busy. He probably doesn't even notice when Will is gone."  
  
"You know that isn't true."  
  
"Yeah, I do. I know I'm being selfish, but I just always pictured raising Will on my own. Or with you."  
  
"I know, I know. But you can't afford to be selfish when Will is involved. And things don't always work out the way you always pictured them."  
  
"Are you thinking about Carrie again?" Sami felt a twinge of something that might have been guilt. Her relationship with Austin had not worked out. She could have been both his best friend and his sister-in-law, and he would have been much happier. Still, she had sworn she would punish Carrie for handing her to Alan Harris, and now everyone in Salem knew that she did not make empty threats.  
  
"Yeah, Greta was going through my closet looking for something and she found a roll of film that apparently got developed and never looked at. It was all shots of Carrie and me. Really old ones. I think you might have taken some of them."  
  
"Maybe . . . so you and Greta are close enough that she goes through your closets?"  
  
"That's a funny way of measuring relationships, but I guess we are."  
  
"Are you really serious about her?"  
  
"What's with all these questions?"  
  
"I'm worried about you. What if she's on the rebound after Eric?"  
  
"That relationship wasn't as serious as they pretended it was."  
  
"If you're sure."  
  
"I'm not. Sometimes I wonder if you and I didn't work out because I was on the rebound."  
  
"That wasn't it, Austin. We're right as friends but not as more, and I really wish I had known that before I did so many things to try to get you."  
  
"It's not your fault. No one is to blame for Carrie and me but Carrie and me. And Mike." He scowled.  
  
"But you have Greta now."  
  
"Yeah. And it might turn out well. It's definitely worth a try, but we've already had this conversation. How are you doing with Brandon?"  
  
Sami was uncharacteristically silent.  
  
"Sami?"  
  
"I'm not sure how we're doing. It's probably over, actually."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"That's not important."  
  
"Sami, you can't swear off the relationship over your first fight."  
  
"Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see."  
  
"We'll both see."  
  
Will craned his head around. Mommy and Uncle Austin were still standing outside the door of Mommy's apartment.  
  
"What are you looking at, Buddy?"  
  
"Nothing, Daddy."  
  
"Fine, I'm gonna look at nothing, too." Lucas turned around. Will giggled. "Did you have a good time with Mommy?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"We went swimming with Uncle Austin one day."  
  
"You have your own pool at home."  
  
"I wanted to go with them."  
  
"What else?"  
  
"I painted. I painted a picture with stars, but I don't have glow-in-the dark stars on my ceiling in there yet." Will looked so unusually pensive that Lucas started.  
  
"Does it bother you that much not to have stars?"  
  
"I can't sleep without them."  
  
"We'll make sure you get them before you come back here next time, okay?"  
  
"Okay. Are you gonna yell at Mommy?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
Will answered with a gesture reminiscent of a shrug. "Do you think Mommy's okay?"  
  
Lucas immediately got down on his knees to look his son in the eye. "Do you have a reason to think she's not?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"No."  
  
"No, you aren't sure?"  
  
"No, I don't have no reason--"  
  
"Any reason."  
  
"Any reason."  
  
"All right." Lucas attempted to open his car door for his son.  
  
"I can do it!" Will proved himself right and Lucas smiled.  
  
By the end of the weekend, Lucas was furious and worried that the best part of his time with Will had been the walk from Sami's apartment to his car. Will was willing, in fact, demanding to spend time with him, but his behavior was much less assertive than it had been even a month before. He didn't even argue with his father about his bedtime, but he did call him back soon after he left the room.  
  
"What is it, Will?"  
  
"I don't want you to go yet."  
  
Lucas leaned on the edge of his son's bed. "Why not?"  
  
Will did not seem inclined to answer. He almost never was anymore.  
  
"Where is Mommy?"  
  
"Your Mommy is at her apartment. You just saw her a few days ago. You talked to her today."  
  
"When will I see her again?"  
  
"Next week, Buddy." The next question was going to rip Lucas' heart out, but he had to ask. "Do you want to stay with her more?"  
  
"NO!" Will's vehemence was unprecedented.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I want her to come stay here."  
  
"Will, Buddy, we talked about this."  
  
"Can you read a story?"  
  
Good. A question with an easy answer.  
  
"Sure." When Will was asleep, Lucas went hunting for Nicole. He knew that she was in the house *somewhere*. He just wasn't sure where. Finally, he came across her in a small room that looked out over the unabashedly impressive backyard. She had a martini glass in one hand and a pen in the other. On closer examination, he realized she was writing a letter to Eric.  
  
"What have I told you about talking to Eric?"  
  
"It's just a letter, Lucas. You got him out of town; what do you care if I write to him?"  
  
"I think it's much more your fault that he left town than mine. I'm surprised he even gave you his address."  
  
"Sami will."  
  
"Why? You've got no swing over her. Nothing to offer."  
  
"I'll find something."  
  
"Sure you will. But before you work on finding something, how about you tell me what you've done to my son?"  
  
"I haven't seen him since you brought him home. That's what we agreed."  
  
"Are you sure? You haven't been near him?"  
  
"No, I haven't been near him! Why would I go near him? We both agree that I don't even like him and I'm not any good at dealing with kids. My sister Taylor isn't that much younger than me and even her I couldn't deal with."  
  
"Just tell me one more time that you haven't even seen Will since I brought him home this weekend."  
  
Nicole took another drink and turned melodramatically to Lucas. "I haven't seen him since you brought him home this weekend. It's a big house. I can avoid you both despite the fact that I'm being kept prisoner."  
  
"Don't get smart with me, or I'll show you what 'kept prisoner' feels like, Nicole!"  
  
"Sure you will. What's wrong with your kid, anyway?"  
  
"Why do you ask? You don't care."  
  
"I don't *not* care. And I haven't seen anyone all day, except the servants. They were talking about him, too. They said he wet his bed. He didn't used to. His problem is *probably* that you kept him away from his mother."  
  
That again? Lucas had thought Nicole would stop with that particular line once her deal with Sami fell through. Maybe she actually believed it. Since his only real enemy happened to be his son's mother, though, and she had Will's best interests at heart, he didn't see any reason not to talk to Nicole about this. "I asked if he wanted to go back to her and he said no. But he keeps asking about her. I know that when I first married you he was afraid you were taking over for Sami, but he can't think that anymore."  
  
An odd feeling shot through Nicole. She really wouldn't have minded marrying Lucas if she had not been in love with Eric. Lucas' problem was that he always wanted something that was forbidden, and when he couldn't have it, he obsessed over it. Currently, he was obsessing over his son's happiness, when nothing was going to make that kid happy except his parents learning to get along. Nicole came from a broken home. She knew that. Why didn't Sami and Lucas?  
  
"I know you'd like to blame your problems on me, but this one is not my fault. You and Sami are fighting over him like a toy or something. He has two homes now, and he's confused. That's *it*."  
  
"That's your opinion. But this is really the first time he's gotten to see both of his parents regularly, except when we all lived in the Kiriakis Mansion."  
  
"And it's the first time he's had these problems, isn't it?"  
  
Lucas left without another word, and Nicole grinned. She had won one small battle. And if Lucas did suddenly give up custody, Sami *would* throw all of her efforts into handing her precious twin back to Nicole.  
  
Lucas, though, had never had any desire to be a part-time father and he was not about to develop one now. He was going to help his son, and desperate times called for desperate measures.  
  
"Odi et Amo"--part 8  
  
"This must be my punishment for everything I've ever done to Austin. Or Carrie. Or my Mom and John," Sami mumbled to herself. The punishment seemed a bit too harsh. She had started her life as a good, innocent, adorable little thing. Everyone had said so, from her family to complete strangers. And what had she gotten for being a good little girl? Dead parents, resurrected parents, an illegitimate half-sibling to destroy her parents' marriage, a rape . . .  
  
Yes, she had kidnapped Belle, but she had done so not out of malice but out of desperation. She had wanted Belle to have a happy life; when the couples who might have adopted her fought, she denied them the chance to raise her baby sister. Her last resort could have been to hand the baby to someone who might hurt her, or even to kill the young girl herself, but instead she had decided to go to Miami and raise Belle as he daughter. How different their lives would have been if she'd tried!  
  
And yes, she had a nice laundry list of crimes against Carrie and Austin to her credit. But because of Carrie, Alan Harris had gone free! And again because of Carrie, Austin had not been able to come to her rescue before she shot Alan in such a way that just about any man who heard that story kept his distance. Carrie had not known how to treat Austin, anyway. Hadn't she broken his heart in the end?  
  
And again, yes, she had lied about Lucas hitting Will. But Lucas had been drinking heavily at the time, and he was a danger to her son. She had had to make everyone understand that. She would do anything for her son.  
  
So, did she really deserve to work a menial job in a hospital full of people who hated her and were delighted to boss her around? She thought not. She hated the computer system that crashed at the drop of a hat. She hated the phones, and the obnoxious people on the other end of them who knew that they could speak to her in any way they liked and go unpunished. She hated the files that seemed to *want* to ruin her nails.  
  
A few things had made her days at the hospital better: Larry and Brandon. But now Brandon was one more thing to worry about. She cringed as she saw him approach, and cursed herself for thinking of him. Perhaps if she had kept him out of mind, her would have stayed out of sight.  
  
"There you are, Samantha."  
  
"Go away, Brandon."  
  
"We're at work. Don't make a scene. I could have a perfectly legitimate reason for talking to you."  
  
"You admit you don't?"  
  
"I do, but it doesn't happen to be work-related."  
  
"In that case, I have some work-related things I want to do, so--"  
  
"This will just take a minute. Come on, I helped you get this job."  
  
"I helped you get yours."  
  
"That's true. Lexie thinks a lot of your opinion."  
  
"And if I told her my opinion was that Abe is right, your temper is out of control--"  
  
"Samantha, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."  
  
"I don't care."  
  
"You should. It was an accident and I've been sick about it all weekend. I called you, I looked for you, I knocked on your door but you weren't there or wouldn't open it. I would have broken down your door or just screamed for you if I hadn't known Austin was right there to take things the wrong way."  
  
"There's a right way to take someone hitting his girlfriend?"  
  
"No! Absolutely not! It was an accident, and I have to know that you're all right."  
  
"I'd be much better if you'd leave."  
  
"If that's what you want, I will. But know that I'm sorry, and I was terrified when I thought I might have hurt you when I'd do anything to save you from any kind of pain. I've dedicated my life to making people feel better, you know."  
  
"In that case, there was no real damage done, but get out of here before I do damage to you."  
  
"All right. But you have to believe me, I'm sorry."  
  
"I believe you." Sami replied partially because she wanted Brandon to leave and partially because she almost meant it.  
  
Later that almost interminable work day, several bouquets of roses arrived at her station. "What are these?" she asked Larry.  
  
"I don't know. But I don't think anyone's sending ME flowers," he answered amicably.  
  
She read the card. "Brandon."  
  
"I heard you liked roses." Brandon appeared from nowhere.   
  
"I do, but I can't accept these."  
  
"Please, Samantha. I need you in my life, if only as a friend."  
  
"Brandon, please back off."  
  
"Just be my friend. Do I have to beg? I will." He made good on his promise and dropped to his knees. "Please, please, please, I need you. Don't let one mistake, one misunderstanding ruin one of the best relationships I have in Salem. I would miss you so much if I couldn't talk to you every day. One more chance, just one more chance, please." He ended with his most charismatic smile.  
  
"Come on, Sami, don't be cold," put in Larry.  
  
"Yeah, take the poor man back!" added a passing nurse.  
  
"Brandon . . ." Sami began annoyed. Then she smiled. "Get off your knees."  
  
"Anything for you."  
  
"I do want to stay your friend. But I'm a little bit concerned about what happened the other day."  
  
"You have a right to be."  
  
"Oh, thank you." The sarcasm was back. "But we have to take a few steps back." She whispered the next demand in his ear, much to the disappointment of the audience they had attracted. "I don't want to be alone with you."  
  
"Okay, whatever the lady wants, she gets." Then he, too, dropped his voice to a whisper. "But you'll change your mind about THAT soon enough."  
  
Nurse Brenda chose that moment to arrive, and both Sami and Brandon were relieved that Larry was there to turn his considerable charm on her. The day then continued, with minutes feeling like hours, until Sami was able to return home.  
  
She wished that she was returning home to Will, or at least to Eric. Still, returning home to an empty apartment was preferable to staying in the clamor and open hostility of the hospital. It would be such a relief to be left alone for a few hours, to feel like a human instead of a servant.  
  
Her feelings were shattered when she saw Lucas waiting outside her apartment.  
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked even as she unlocked her door.  
  
"Hello to you, too. Can I come in?"  
  
"I'd rather you didn't."  
  
"Too bad. We have to talk about our son." He pushed himself past her into the living room and seated himself on the couch, trying hard not to remember what he had seen in this very place the last time he had visited this apartment. Focus on the fun you used to have with Carrie here, he reminded himself. That would make Carrie's sick little sister easier to deal with.  
  
"Will?"  
  
"That's the only son we have, unless there's something else you're not telling me."  
  
"Ha ha. What's wrong with him? Is he okay?" Her annoyance quickly became panic.  
  
"I'm not sure."  
  
"You're not sure?"  
  
"No. If I knew what was wrong I would have figured out how to fix it and I never would have come here to talk to you."  
  
"Well, talk. Tell me what you've done to my little boy."  
  
"*I* haven't done anything, Sami. But if that's what this conversation is going to be, I won't waste my time." He stood up. He was bluffing, because he truly didn't think anyone but Sami could help him in this situation, but Sami didn't know that. Luckily, she did know that he would not allow her to simply go to Will while he had custody, and she felt that she was stuck.  
  
"Lucas, wait!" He turned. "I'm . . . sorry. What's wrong with Will?"  
  
"As I said, I don't know. Did he act differently than normal in any way at all when you had him here last week?"  
  
"No, not at all. What's happened? You haven't told me yet!"  
  
"It's hard to put my finger on it. He's gotten clingier than he ever was, even when he was a real baby. He seems to worry about a lot of things. He was worried about you, especially. He kept asking about you, not the way he usually does when he doesn't see you, but like he was afraid you were in trouble. Do you know why he thinks this?"  
  
Sami was startled. Could Will have seen or heard her conversation with Brandon? No, of course not. He had been asleep when she'd checked on him. Besides, his door had been closed, so he could not have heard any of their mostly whispered conversation. He certainly couldn't have seen the slap.  
  
"Earth to Sami."  
  
"I'm thinking. No, I can't think of anything that would have made him worry about me. Maybe he's just afraid that he won't see me for a long time again, like when you got custody when I was on death row." She glanced at Lucas reproachfully and he willed himself not to respond.  
  
"I did tell him he was coming back here on Saturday. And he does call you on days he stays with me."  
  
"You don't think he's just confused about the new arrangements? That could be making him anxious."  
  
"That's what Nicole said."  
  
"You talked to Nicole before you talked to me?"  
  
"I live with Nicole. I don't live with you."  
  
"But I thought you were living together in name only."  
  
"Who told you that?"  
  
"Nicole. She let it slip when she was trying to get me to give her Eric's phone number."  
  
"And you haven't yet?"  
  
"I'm not going to, until he tells me to. He needs time on his own to think about her, and Greta, and Salem."  
  
"He's obviously lost his chance with Greta."  
  
"Maybe. Maybe not. Hey, isn't it interesting that of Eric's two love interests the one you say he's lost his chance with is NOT the one you're married to?"  
  
"That goes without saying."  
  
Sami snickered. "Even Will told me that during the last week he spent with you he almost never saw Nicole. He said he had to ask you if the two of you were still married."  
  
"Will is four. He's smart, but some things get by him."  
  
"Sure. Numbers over a hundred . . . foreign languages . . . . your alleged marriage to Nicole . . ."  
  
"Sami, are you worried about your son or my marriage?"  
  
"Both. But I admit I feel better about having him stay with you if he isn't around Nicole. You're at least a decent father when you're paying attention, but she really hates him."  
  
"Oh, now I'm a decent father when I'm paying attention. That's a few steps up from child-beater, but how about you tell me when I'm not paying attention?"  
  
"Whenever you get near Nicole. You've never been able to see her for what she is, just like Eric."  
  
"Oh, Sami's comparing me to her sainted twin brother. I'm sure I should feel honored."  
  
"Leave Eric alone."  
  
"Why should I? He slept with my wife, and he hated me since the day he met me. There probably wouldn't BE a Will if he'd been in Salem when we'd met because you wouldn't have been friends with someone he didn't approve of."  
  
Sami smiled to herself but didn't really respond.  
  
"What?"  
  
"That was actually sort of the appeal," she whispered.  
  
"Say that a little louder."  
  
"When we met, it was the first summer I'd ever spent in Salem without Eric. We were trying to establish ourselves as different people, you know, as Sami and Eric instead of the Brady Twins. So one of the reasons I liked you was that I *knew* Eric wouldn't like you at all."  
  
"Tell me, have you ever done anything in your life that wasn't an act of rebellion against someone?"  
  
"Sure. Lots of things." As she hunted for an example, her mind returned to the question at hand. "But we were supposed to be talking about Will." She wondered why she slipped so easily into conversation with Lucas. It had been years since they had been friends, but some far corner of her mind still seemed to crave the hours on end they had once spent together.  
  
"You don't have any idea why he's so anxious?"  
  
"No. He was quiet the morning you picked him up, but I thought that was just because he had to move again. It can't be easy to go back and forth like this."  
  
"If you have a better idea, I'm listening."  
  
"My better idea is that I get full custody."  
  
"Don't start. We were having a decent conversation about Will, and you had to bring that up."  
  
"Well, it probably does have something to do with whatever's bothering him. If you would let me SEE him, I might know better."  
  
"I will let you see him during my week as soon as you let me see him during yours."  
  
"He wasn't sick during my week."  
  
"Maybe you just didn't notice."  
  
"What?! I would notice one hundred times faster than you if something was wrong! I'm his mother!"  
  
"And I'm his father. And if you notice so much, why doesn't he have those stars he likes so much on the ceiling in his room here? He says he can't sleep without them."  
  
"Have you noticed how long the list of things he says he can't sleep without is?"  
  
"Well, I guess he has to get security from somewhere, since his parents, no, his mother, isn't willing to give it to him. And why doesn't he have the stars?"  
  
"Because I couldn't find them. I looked."  
  
Lucas pulled something out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Sami. "Stop looking. Just make sure they're up before he comes back."  
  
Sami was startled. "Thank you."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"You can come in and check when you bring him back next time. I'll put them up now."  
  
"Then I'll help you."  
  
"You don't have to."  
  
"I have to make sure you do it right."  
  
"It's not that hard to do."  
  
"That's what you think. You have no idea how *discriminating* Will's taste is in this area."  
  
Sami laughed and rolled her eyes. "I probably do."  
  
"You might."  
  
They walked into the bedroom that had once been Eric's. It had been re-created to be a four-year-old's paradise. They spent a surprisingly stress-free hour putting the stars on the ceiling. Then they turned out the lights to admire their work.  
  
"Wow," Sami gasped, briefly unaware that she was standing less than an inch from Lucas in a darkened bedroom.  
  
"Hey, we're artists."  
  
"Either that or people with too much time on their hands." She took another step back, and stumbled into Lucas. He reached out instinctively to keep her from falling, and she drew in her breath sharply when she felt her former best friend's hands on her body. She hoped he hadn't noticed, and said a silent prayer of thanks that the lights were out so he could not see her face.  
  
"Thanks . . . sorry."  
  
"It's all right." Lucas reached for the light switch, and the magical starry night became an empty child's bedroom. "This might help him. I don't know what's wrong with Will, and it's just frustrating, you know, not knowing what to do."  
  
"I know. You know how I was when he was first born, calling Austin, Carrie, Mom, Grandma, anyone. But I don't think anyone is going to tell us anything we haven't already figured out this time."  
  
Lucas smiled at the memory of seventeen-year-old Sami and her infant son. He only wished he'd known then that Will was his. Still, the contrast between the girl with a baby of her own and the woman before him was striking. The physical changes could have been predicted, but they were striking nonetheless. Also striking were the added doses of confidence and emotional stability. Austin had used to say that Sami wasn't ready to have baby and therefore Carrie should have been allowed to take over. No one could say that about Sami now. She was ready for anything.  
  
"Lucas? What are you smiling at?" Lucas realized they had reached the door of her apartment. He opened it and stepped outside.  
  
"When did you grow up?" he asked.  
  
"When did you?"  
  
They shut the door.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 9  
  
Sami and Brandon ran up the steps laughing.  
  
"You see, I told you it would be faster if we didn't take the elevator," Brandon grinned.  
  
"And you were right."  
  
"I often am."  
  
"Modest, too, I see."  
  
"Haven't you heard that false modesty is a sin?"  
  
"I suppose."  
  
"You suppose? Now the fact is, I am right about a lot of things. Want to hear some of the other things I'm right about?"  
  
Sami was playfully exasperated. "Why not?"  
  
"I'm right about us. I always have been. You intrigued me from the moment I saw you, Samantha. I know we're meant to be more than friends."  
  
"I told you I wasn't ready to go down that road again yet."  
  
"Not yet. Whatever you say. But you can't pretend you don't miss having me in your bed."  
  
"There is more to a relationship than good sex."  
  
"Just good. I'm hurt, Samantha. Who was better? Franco Kelly?"  
  
"What do you care? And no, Franco wasn't better than you. You seem to be all you claim in bed-- just considerably less in other areas! Like tact."  
  
"All right, all right. As long as I'm tactless anyway, may I ask that you invite me in?"  
  
"No. I'm not comfortable with that, and for now it's my way or nothing."  
  
"You drive a hard bargain."  
  
"We aren't *bargaining* at all."  
  
"Of course not. I wouldn't argue with you."  
  
"You shouldn't."  
  
"So I've heard."  
  
"Heard where? Who have you been discussing me with?"  
  
"No one. But you don't exactly keep a low profile. Can I ask . . ."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Is it true you broke into the hospital records to change your sister's blood type?"  
  
"That's true. They changed the whole system because of me."  
  
"Were you trying to get her killed?"  
  
"No! I didn't even think of that, although if I had I did know that before she got a transfusion they'd check again."  
  
"Then why?"  
  
"I thought you knew this. It's common knowledge, especially around the hospital."  
  
"I don't. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."  
  
"No kidding."  
  
He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Sorry."  
  
"No, I'm sorry. I just haven't gone through this in a while." She gathered herself to begin the recitation. "I was still in high school. My parents were married, but I knew that my Mom had had an affair with John. She got pregnant, and didn't know who had fathered the baby. So she and John, who didn't want to tell my Dad what had happened if they didn't have to, got the baby's blood tested. They didn't need to do a real paternity test because Mom is type O and John and Daddy are different types. I switched Belle's blood type so they wouldn't know she was John's and they wouldn't tell Daddy about the affair."  
  
"Wow. That's some pretty sophisticated stuff for a high school kid."  
  
"I wasn't your average high school kid."  
  
"You've never been anyone's average anything. You're still not."  
  
"I'll take that as a compliment."  
  
"As it was intended. You see how right we are for each other? Most people wouldn't listen to that story without batting an eye."  
  
Sami had to admit to herself that that was true. "That's why I don't tell that story to most people."  
  
"You're *sure* I can't come in?"  
  
"How many times to I have to tell you?"  
  
"I just don't want this night to end. We can't stay in the hall forever."  
  
"No, we can't. So why don't we say goodnight?"  
  
"Do I get a kiss?"  
  
"It wouldn't seem right if you didn't."  
  
Their lips met, and neither wanted the kiss to end, but end it did.  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow," Brandon murmured as he left. Sami finally turned the key in her lock, but didn't feel up to ending her evening just yet. Something unknown was nagging at a tiny corner of her mind. So, she instantly went to the place where she had always found comfort, ever since she had arrived in Salem for the first time as an adult. A young adult, anyway.  
  
"Austin, are you home?"  
  
"Yeah, come on in, Sami. Brandon with you?"  
  
"No, we were out tonight, but he's gone now."  
  
Sami and Austin seated themselves in his living room.  
  
"I'm glad you didn't let that one fight with Brandon end your relationship."  
  
"So am I." She didn't sound convinced of what she was saying and she knew it.  
  
"Hey, hey, you don't sound glad. Why don't you sound glad?"  
  
"I said I was glad."  
  
"Sami, you think you can lie to me?" The irony of that statement almost made Sami burst into giggles.  
  
"No. I'm not lying, I've just had a long few days and I wanted to come see you to see how your last few days have been. It's a waste, living next to your best friend if you never see him. And I don't see you enough."  
  
"Well, I'm around. What did you want to talk about?"  
  
Sami smirked. "How about you and Greta?"  
  
"What about us?"  
  
"How are things moving along?"  
  
"Slowly. I don't want to make the same mistakes I made with Carrie." Sami wondered how Austin planned to take things more slowly with Greta when he and Carrie had married only after more than four years of dating and being engaged.   
  
"What have you been doing?"  
  
"A lot of the usual. Talking. Movies. Dancing. Pool. I wouldn't have thought Greta would be a pool shark."  
  
"Eric said the same thin-- oh, I guess that wasn't the best thing to repeat."  
  
"It's fine, Sami. We're well aware that she dated Eric and I married both of Eric's sisters."  
  
"So that's what you talk about? The screwed up Brady Bunch and how you wish you'd never met us?"  
  
"What's gotten into you, Sami?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." Sami jumped up. "I shouldn't have come over here knowing I was in this kind of a mood."  
  
"Sit down." Austin grabbed Sami playfully. "Tell me what's wrong."  
  
"Nothing, it's really nothing I can think of. I just had a date with Brandon and it went fine. Yes, work is wearing me out and yes I'm worried about Will, but nothing should have made me snap at you like that. I really am sorry."  
  
"You're forgiven, not that there's anything to forgive. But what about Will?"  
  
"Lucas came over the other day and said Will seems stressed."  
  
"It's probably just that he's moving back and forth between two homes."  
  
"You, Lucas, Nicole, and I all agree on that."  
  
"The world must be coming to an end."  
  
"Could be."  
  
"So you and Lucas fought the other day? I must not have been home. Usually I can hear you two from down the block."  
  
"We didn't fight much. We're both worried about Will. And I don't want to upset Will more than he already is by being at his father's throat. I mean, Lucas really has stopped drinking so I don't think Will is in danger anymore, and I know Nicole barely sees him, so I don't have to worry about her. I do want full custody eventually because I KNOW Lucas framed me for Franco's murder, but Will loves him and I can't justify creating any more upheaval in his life right now."  
  
"Wow. Sami, that is one of the most mature speeches I have ever heard out of your mouth," Austin said sincerely.  
  
"Don't get your hopes up too high. I still hate him. I will still bring him down." Sami's passionate vehemence returned.  
  
"And I will help you if you can ever prove that he really did get away with murder. But don't you think there's a chance he didn't?"  
  
"There's always a CHANCE, but in this case it isn't a very big one. There aren't that many people out there who'd want to frame me for murder."  
  
"You walked into the room and passed out. You were an easy target. It might not have been someone who had something against you. It might really have been Roberto. Why can't you let it lie and get on with your life, and Will's?"  
  
"I want to see justice done."  
  
"Will isn't more important than revenge?"  
  
"Will is always the most important thing, always. And I don't want him being raised by a killer who is capable of treating me that way!"  
  
"Okay, I understand. I just hope you aren't letting your desire for revenge get in the way of living your life."  
  
"How could it? Will, work, Brandon . . . there's too much for me to spend all my time planning how to trip Lucas up. If he's guilty, he'll trip himself up eventually, anyway."  
  
Austin eyed her critically until she finally asked him why.  
  
"You do look tired. Are you working tomorrow?"  
  
"Just half the day, thank God."  
  
"Which half?"  
  
"Morning. I'll be home by noon."  
  
"Then I'll make sure to visit you tomorrow, if you aren't doing anything else."  
  
"I won't be, if I know *you're* coming."  
  
Sami received a smile from her sometime crush, boyfriend, husband, brother-in-law . . . "Okay, then I will come. You definitely need someone to check on you."  
  
"Austin Reed, all-purpose hero."  
  
"I do what I can."  
  
"And that happens to be a whole lot." Sami stood and hugged Austin. "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome. Now go right to bed, young lady."  
  
"Yes, Austin."  
  
"Seriously, promise to take care of yourself."  
  
"I look that bad?"  
  
"No, but you still need rest. Even if you don't have full custody, you're more of a single mother now than you ever were before because you always had so much financial support from Carrie and me or from Lucas." He paused. "You know, Lucas *would* probably give you enough to take care of Will without your keeping that crummy job."  
  
"And I would lose custody!"  
  
"You can't be sure."  
  
"I can't take the risk. And I can't take anything from Lucas." With that, she left. "Good night," she called, as an afterthought.  
  
"Good night," replied Austin.  
  
Austin could not remove Sami from his mind for the rest of the night, or even the next morning. He very nearly doubted their decision to stop dating-- if they were together, it would be so much easier to protect her. Still, there was more to a relationship than protection, and something deeply underlying their personalities prevented them from being compatible on the necessary levels.  
  
A temporary solution fell into Austin's lap in Salem Place that morning, though. If this didn't cheer Sami up, then he would at least have help in figuring out what was wring and ultimately fixing it. He would always feel a responsibility to fix Sami's problems, and he knew it. So, he arrived at her doorway as promised, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.  
  
"Hi, Sami."  
  
"Austin! I was wondering when you'd be over."  
  
"Here I am. And I brought a surprise."  
  
"A surprise? A good one?"  
  
"What, you think I'm the kind of guy who thinks a woman needs cheering up and brings her a bad surprise?"  
  
"No. So what is it?" she inquired eagerly.  
  
Austin stepped aside and Sami gasped.  
  
"Jamie?"  
  
"Hi, Sami," was all a nervous Jamie Caldwell could think to say. She had not spoken to Sami for years, and she was well aware of the possibility that Sami did not WANT to speak to her. Sami had always been the assertive part of their friendship. Jamie had been at school, had grown up, and did not need Sami as she once had. That didn't mean that she no longer *wanted* her friend back, especially now that she had found her way back to Salem.  
  
Sami was startled. Jamie was the last person she had expected to see today. She was unaware that she was simply staring at her former best friend. However, she soon found her way back to reality and she was able to see the wheels turning in Jamie's head. She was petrified!  
  
Now Sami knew what to do. She stepped forward and hugged Jamie. "I'm so happy to see you."  
  
"I'm happy to see you, too," Jamie nearly whispered.  
  
Sami's energy returned. "Come in, some in!" she exclaimed excitedly, almost dragging Jamie behind her. "You, too Austin! Can I get you anything, either of you?"  
  
"I'm fine," they answered in unison, and Sami was so eager to hear how Jamie had ended up in her apartment that she did not force the issue.  
  
"Jamie, why are you back?" she demanded eagerly. But before Jamie could answer, they were interrupted.  
  
"Austin?"  
  
"Greta!" Austin jumped up. "In here."  
  
"Austin, I'm sorry to bother you, but can you help me with something? Hi, Sami," she added as an afterthought, and only then did she realize that there was another person in the room.  
  
"Greta, this is Jamie Caldwell. She's an old friend of Sami's, and Carrie's and mine, too," Austin explained. "Jamie, this is Greta Von Amburg." Austin kissed Greta thoroughly. "You can see who she is."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
"Nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."  
  
"It's no problem," remarked Austin. "Sami and Jamie probably want to be left alone to catch up." Neither Sami nor Jamie argued that point, so Austin and Greta quietly left.  
  
"Well?" Sami asked.  
  
"You haven't changed much." Jamie cringed when Sami's face fell nearly imperceptibly. "I mean, I'm sure you have, you look older, but you're still so eager and impulsive."  
  
"Oh. I'm not expecting that to change, ever."  
  
"I wouldn't want it to."  
  
Sami just looked at Jamie until her friend gave in.  
  
"I have one year of law school left. I didn't want to come back here, but Salem University offered me such a good deal on tuition that I couldn't refuse. I went through college part-time because I was working, you know that, and I'm eager to be done in any way I can get done."  
  
"LAW school? Jamie, I always knew you were smart enough and everything, but, after your father . . ."  
  
"I'm not going to swear off a career because it was what my father did. It's actually part of why I want this job. I want to be able to help protect other girls in that situation."  
  
"That's great. That's so . . . great. I don't want to sound condescending, but I'm so proud of you."  
  
"Thanks." Jamie was ready to get the topic of conversation away from her life. "How has Salem been?"  
  
"Not the same without you," Sami answered honestly. "But wow, wait until you see your godson! He was still a baby when you left, but now he's his own person, completely."  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
Sami made a face. "With Lucas."  
  
"Yeah, Carrie explained that to me on the back of the wedding announcement she sent. Um, Sami, did you"  
  
"Did I know? No, I didn't. Not until a few months before everyone else found out."  
  
"A FEW MONTHS! Sami, how could you not tell him? He was your friend, and he had a son, and you just didn't tell him?"  
  
"So, your feelings haven't changed."  
  
"What feelings?"  
  
"Don't be cute. You always had a crush on Lucas."  
  
"That isn't why I think you should have told him as soon as you realized what happened."  
  
"I know, I know. You always were the conscience neither Lucas nor I ever had."  
  
"That isn't fair."  
  
"I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that you're right, I should have told Lucas. We were just so close to ending Carrie and Austin's relationship. Austin was marrying ME! That wedding Carrie told you about, it was mine. She crashed the ceremony and married Austin instead."  
  
"Then what? Austin told me they were divorced." Jamie blushed. "I kind of put my foot in my mouth by asking about Carrie."  
  
"Don't worry. Austin knows there's no way you could have known. Anyway, when I should have been marrying Austin, Carrie was off on some adventure with Mike Horton. She started to fall for him-- she always had a crush on him-- and eventually she cheated on Austin. He couldn't forgive her and they got divorced. That's where Carrie is now, with Mike in Israel."  
  
"He couldn't forgive her? But he could forgive you everything you did?"  
  
"It doesn't make much sense. Love doesn't sometimes. But I always TOLD you he cared about me. Carrie never would have had the chance to cheat on him if he hadn't been on the run with me."  
  
"On the run? As in 'from the law?'"  
  
"You don't know about this? Don't you ever hear the news?"  
  
"Not that much."  
  
"Obviously. When Austin married Carrie, I started moving on with a man. His name was Franco Kelly, and we were about to get married when someone shot him to death. I was the prime suspect and I wound up on death row. That's when Austin took me away."  
  
"Until you could prove you didn't do it."  
  
"You're great, Jamie."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You automatically assumed I didn't do it."  
  
"You're capable of a lot, but not murder."  
  
"Carrie didn't feel that way."  
  
Jamie ignored that side comment. "What happened?"  
  
"Long story short. Turned myself in. Got lethal injection. Got last minute pardon when some friend of Franco's confessed to the murder. By some miracle, CPR worked and brought me back to life."  
  
"Sami, I'm sorry. If I had known . . ."  
  
"Don't be sorry. Well, I guess you can be a little bit sorry . . ."  
  
"What happened next?"  
  
"It's been quieter the last year or so. I dated Austin but we decided we weren't right for each other."  
  
"So you did all of that for nothing? Destroyed Carrie's life? Destroyed your relationship?"  
  
"Hardly. She's happier with Mike. Anyway, I wasn't mad at her because I wanted Austin. I was mad because she let Alan get away with raping me! The fact that I loved Austin was icing on the cake. And our relationship is a little bit better. Before she left, Mom talked to us a lot about her sister Sam, and how much she misses her, how you never know how little time you might have to make amends."  
  
"Don't you feel guilty about Austin? Or Lucas?"  
  
"Some things with Austin. But he forgives me, so I forgive myself. And Lucas, NEVER! He was probably the one who shot Franco! He was there, he knew where my gun was, and he ran away from the scene of the crime-- drunk and with my son in the car, I might add! He was trying to kidnap Will, and instead Will ended up in the hospital in a coma!"  
  
"That doesn't mean he shot this guy!"  
  
"He also confessed."  
  
"Confessed?"  
  
"While they were executing me, he broke into the room screaming 'I shot Franco!'"  
  
"So why isn't he in jail?"  
  
"He took the confession back when he found out Roberto confessed. Bastard. The Franco thing is really why we don't get along now, not my lying about who Will's father is."  
  
"It's over and you're free. Why punish Lucas? You might miss him some day, like you might miss Carrie. If he stepped in front of a bus this afternoon, would you want him to die knowing you hated him, and hating you?"  
  
"Jamie, you haven't seen me for years! Don't come in out of the blue and hand me this fairy tale stuff!"  
  
"I- I'm sorry. I'll go."  
  
"No, don't. I didn't mean to snap at you. This must be why you didn't stay in touch. I'm a lot to take. I never was the friend you deserved."  
  
"That isn't true! I never would have gotten through everything with my father without you. I can't imagine high school without studying with you, and talking to you--"  
  
"And having me sleep with the guy you had a crush on."  
  
"I know what you were going through. I got over it."  
  
"You shouldn't have had to."  
  
"We were teenagers. It's not like he was my husband. He wasn't mine to lose."  
  
"But I really feel bad about it. I always did, even if I never told you."  
  
"I knew."  
  
"How can you be so *good* all the time?"  
  
"It's a gift." They both laughed.  
  
"You're a gift. You saved me so many times. I always knew you cared, and sometimes I felt like that was all I had."  
  
"The feeling was mutual. I promise."  
  
"You really aren't mad about everything I put you through, the covering up, the lying, the worrying, Lucas?"  
  
"No. But that's not an invitation to put me through it again. And if I see Lucas, I'm not going to accuse him of murder on the spot."  
  
"You don't have to."  
  
"Are things that bad between you?"  
  
"Pretty much. I hate him so completely sometimes, because he stole a year of my life. He almost stole my life completely. I would lose all self-respect if I started to like him again. But every now and then, something happens, usually something with Will. Once we were putting him to bed together, and our hands touched, and it was perfect in a strange sort of way. The other day, we were talking about how joint custody is affecting Will, and just the talking, I don't know, I missed it! I missed him like I missed you! For a few minutes, I just wanted my friend back and nothing else in the world mattered!"  
  
Sami ended her speech abruptly when she realized she was almost crying. "I'm sorry. You just got back to town, and I'm already venting at you."  
  
"I'm flattered. I'm glad you still trust me."  
  
Well, thought Sami, that's one best friend back. It's too bad I can never have the other.  
  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 10  
  
"Jamie, Brandon, Brandon, Jamie," Sami introduced gleefully.  
  
After the mandatory exchange of nice-to-meet-yous, Jamie glanced at her watch.  
  
"I'd better go now."  
  
"Jamie, I can do it. I even want to. I'm not going to start using you that way when you've been back in town for about three days."  
  
"But when I've been back a week you'll be willing?"  
  
"Ha ha."  
  
"I don't have anything better to do. Stay with Brandon." Sami wished she'd shared her doubts about Brandon with Jamie, who was probably thrilled at the opportunity to see Lucas again as well as by seeing Sami with a man not named Austin.  
  
Jamie flashed Sami a grin that assured her friend that both of her suspicions about Jamie's eagerness to pick up Will were valid. Then she left, and Sami was once again alone with Brandon.  
  
"So that's the Jamie you've mentioned a few times?"  
  
"That's her."  
  
"She's pretty. You have good taste in friends."  
  
"If that's how you judge it."  
  
"You do realize I was kidding?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"She's nice in other ways, too. Nice enough to leave me here with you."  
  
"That I'm probably not going to thank her for. You know why I wanted to slow down."  
  
"Being alone in your apartment talking is hardly the speed of light."  
  
"Maybe it is to me."  
  
"You're just being spiteful. You're punishing me because of one little accident."  
  
"That's what you call a little accident?"  
  
"Yes! And I don't appreciate your treating me like this, Samantha."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Like I'm some kind of criminal, like my father."  
  
"You won't tell me about your father, so I can't say if I think you're like him."  
  
Brandon sighed. "Maybe this will be easier if I do tell you. Look, my father was abusive. Hit me. Hit my Mom."  
  
"Brandon, I'm sorry. I had no idea."  
  
"It doesn't show much."  
  
"What about Nicole, and Taylor?"  
  
"Nicky was his little pet. He'd never touch her. And we all banded together to protect Tay. She was the baby and never knew much about what went on."  
  
"I don't know what to say. I wish I could go back in time and change things."  
  
"So do I. And sometimes it's all I can think about and I do lose control. That's what I was thinking about the night I beat up Austin so badly. Remember how Nicky didn't want me to fight?" Sami nodded. "She knows how I get. She was afraid I'd hurt him. I thought I would be okay. I've dedicated my life to HELPING kids, not beating them. I'm NOT my father."  
  
"No, you're not. But you did hit me."  
  
"You call this a hit?" And with that, Brandon repeated his earlier action.  
  
"Yes, I do! Now get out, and this time I AM calling the police."  
  
"No, no, Samantha. I was just explaining . . . you don't want to call the police on me, and besides, it would look ridiculous."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"That a cop's daughter would get into this situation? That you're complaining when there's not one bruise on your body? Please, Samantha, my life is on the right track. I've come out of nothing, and you're my friend. Don't let me down."  
  
**********  
  
Jamie Caldwell suddenly became nervous as she knocked on the door of the enormous mansion. She had grown up in an upper-middle class family and had never wanted for anything, and she had spent plenty of time in the Kiriakis Mansion with Sami and Carrie, but this felt strange.  
  
A woman who looked somewhat like a maid opened the door, and a tall blonde approached behind her.  
  
"Can I help you?"  
  
"My name is Jamie Caldwell. I'm here to pick up Will."  
  
"I've never seen you before," the blonde interrupted. "I'm not handing my stepson over to just anyone." Jamie knew at first glance that the woman was drunk. If she was Will's stepmother, she must be Nicole.  
  
"I'm a good friend of Sami's. Lucas knows me, so if he's here, I'm sure he'll be willing to let me take Will. I'm Will's godmother, actually. One of them."  
  
"Come this way, Miss," maid directed, conspicuously ignoring Nicole. "Mr. Roberts and Will are outside with Will's pony." Jamie smiled. She wondered how long Lucas had known Will was his son when he bought him his own pony.  
  
"Well, Lucas can't blame me if she's a fraud!" Nicole exclaimed as they left.  
  
Once again outside, Jamie was again stunned by the complete majesty of the home. Will and Lucas were indeed playing with a beautiful pony, a dappled gray with a thick white mane and tail.  
  
"Mr. Roberts! This woman says she is here to pick up your son. She said you would know her, although your wife didn't."  
  
Lucas turned. Jamie was happy to see that he had only grown more handsome with age. His dark eyes struggled for a moment to place her.  
  
"Jamie?"  
  
"You do remember."  
  
Lucas turned first to the maid. "She's fine, thank you." The maid left. "How long have you been back?"  
  
"Just a few days. I'm staying with your brother for the moment, actually, right next door to Sami."  
  
Lucas bit back a grimace at the mention of Sami's name.  
  
"I know things haven't gone well for you two since I've been gone."  
  
"That's an understatement."  
  
Will chose this moment to interrupt them. "Who are you?" he asked, applying all of his mother's tact on her worst day.  
  
Jamie knelt to talk to him. "My name is Jamie. I know you don't remember me, but when you were a baby I used to play with you a lot."  
  
"I'm not a baby anymore."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Jamie is here to take you back to Mommy's," Lucas explained.  
  
"No!" Will complained.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Do you like Mommy?" Will asked Jamie, ignoring his father's query.  
  
"Yes. She was my best friend for a long time."  
  
"Is that true?" He now addressed his question to Lucas.  
  
"Yes, it's true. Jamie is a very good friend of your Mommy's and of mine. So it's okay for you to go with her."  
  
"I want to finish."  
  
Lucas glanced at Jamie over his son's head. She smiled and nodded.  
  
"Okay, finish up, Buddy." Will ran off.  
  
"I can't believe how much he's grown."  
  
"Kids do that."  
  
"Older people, too. Sami's different, and Austin, and you."  
  
"Yeah, I'm all grown up and married," Lucas joked.  
  
"Married I'll accept. You might have to prove the 'grown up' part. Hey, is your wife . . ."  
  
"What about my wife?" Lucas' dark eyes turned cold.  
  
"Is she really Brandon Walker's sister?"  
  
"Yes. You've met him?"  
  
"I just did, right before I came over."  
  
"So Sami wanted to spend time with him instead of her son?"  
  
"No, she didn't. He really wanted to see HER, so I insisted that she let me come over in her place."  
  
"Oh." Lucas grinned. "So you really just wanted to come over and see me." He had known about Jamie's crush on him years ago, but she seemed to have matured enough that it had faded. He was glad. It would be nice to just flirt with someone, instead of dealing with his wife-in-name-only.  
  
Jamie beat down a blush when Lucas turned the full force of his charm on her. She should have outgrown these feelings; at least she could keep Lucas from seeing them. "You know it, Lucas. You're the whole reason I came back to Salem."  
  
"But you left a trail of broken hearts in your wake?"  
  
"Of course. I compared every man I met to you, and I had to come back. Naturally, I was crushed when I met Nicole."  
  
"You actually saw her?"  
  
"Yeah, when I first came over. She said something about not knowing me so I shouldn't take Will."  
  
"Ignore her."  
  
"Everyone else around here seems to."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"It didn't mean anything. I just thought her behavior with the woman who brought me out here was odd."  
  
Lucas glanced hard at Will before answering. "How much has Sami told you about me?"  
  
"Nothing. I knew you were Will's father already--"  
  
"You KNEW? But you left town way before--"  
  
"No, I didn't know then. I found out when I found out about Carrie marrying Austin."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Anyway, all Sami said to me about you was that you haven't really gotten along ever since you found out Will was your son. She told me this unbelievable story about almost marrying a model and ending up on death row. That's really what she said about you-- she thinks you framed her."  
  
"I didn't."  
  
"I didn't think you did. I don't think either of you could kill."  
  
"Thank you. But you don't know about Nicole? And Sami didn't send you over here to get information out of me?"  
  
"No. All I know about Nicole is that she has a brother named Brandon, and that you married her right before you got full custody of Will even though she was engaged to Sami's brother that I've never met. And I know that I just saw her and she looked drunk at three in the afternoon."  
  
"You aren't missing much with Eric. And everything you know about Nicole is true."  
  
"Then what did you mean by 'you don't know about Nicole?'"  
  
"Sami knows, so I thought you must. We're only married officially. I can't have a divorce that makes the society pages if I don't want to ruin my chances of keeping custody of Will."  
  
"I'm sorry. You deserve to be happy."  
  
"I'm not sure about that."  
  
A familiar pain lanced through Jamie. She hated to see Lucas hurt. Hurting him had almost been worse than hurting Sami the day she had given Kate Roberts the information she needed to expose the machinations of the two to end Austin and Carrie's engagement. She hadn't had a choice, though; she could not allow Sami to delude herself or Carrie to suffer.  
  
"You do. You always have."  
  
"Thanks, Jamie. But your friend Sami doesn't feel that way, and neither does Nicole."  
  
"Then why did you marry her?"  
  
"I was in love with her."  
  
"Was?" Jamie hated her heart for skipping.  
  
"It's easier to fall out of love than I used to think. Seeing your wife make love to her ex-fiancé helps."  
  
"She cheated on you? How could she? How could anyone do something like that to you?"  
  
"Ask her."  
  
"I'd rather just hit her and scream at her for being so stupid."  
  
"Can I watch?"  
  
"Sure!"   
  
"You're great, Jamie. Leave Nicole alone, though. She's just fine and following all the rules."  
  
"You have rules for your wife?"  
  
"I told you, it isn't a real marriage. She has a job and she's being paid for it. Not literally, but she has this mansion and she uses my money to but whatever she wants. So as long as she's out to destroy me, I thought she needed a few rules. Don't look at me like that."  
  
"I know it must be awful that she cheated on you, but that doesn't mean she's out to destroy you."  
  
"Oh, that isn't how I know she was out to destroy me. She started scheming with Sami against me. The deal was that if Nicole made me take a drink, Sami would hand over Eric. And the worst part is, a couple of times I almost fell for it. But that's probably something else you didn't know. Sami was desperate to keep Austin, so she did everything to keep Will from bonding with me when she found out I was his father. He thought I was stealing him from Austin and he hated me. I didn't deal with everything in the best possible way and I started drinking a lot. That's how I lost custody before Sami went to death row. She knows she'd get full custody if I started drinking that way again . . . I'm not sure why I just told you all of that. You thought I'd grown up at least a little but really I just got within two steps of being a raging alcoholic."  
  
Jamie shook her head. "I know it must have been awful. But you did the hard thing and you STOPPED drinking. I would never think less of you over that." Lucas' eyes were still focused entirely on Jamie, as if he didn't quite believe her. She responded by wrapping her arms around him, something she had seldom had the courage to do during their first stint as friends. He returned the hug until she broke it off.  
  
"No, I don't think less of you. I think less of SAMI! That's a cruel scheme, even for her."  
  
Lucas considered defending Sami by remarking that allowing her to be framed for murder was likewise a cruel scheme even for him. But he didn't.  
  
"Yes, she's been getting worse with age. Doing more with less provocation."  
  
"Well, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here. I want to stay friends with both of you, like I was before."  
  
"That'll be a good trick." His eyes ran over her, and his earlier flirtatious demeanor had returned. Suddenly, he glanced toward his son. "HEY, WILL! Come on! Are you ready?"  
  
"Yes, Daddy. Bye."  
  
Lucas hated this. He gave Will his last hug for the week, put his backpack on his small shoulders, and watched him as he set off with his hand in Jamie's.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Amo

"Odi et Amo"-- part 11  
  
Two weeks later, Lucas was again in the situation of saying good-bye to his son. This good-bye had the potential to be much, much worse than the average bi-monthly good-bye, because he was going to have to do it in semi-public, and with Sami there. He was grateful that Jamie would be there, too; he had asked if she was offering herself as a sacrificial lamb to keep Will's parents off of each other's throats and she had just laughed. Jamie had joined the chorus of family members and friends who insisted that Sami and Lucas really should get along with each other by any means necessary. Lucas wondered if she had had a part in the planning of this stupid party or if it was all Sami's grandparents, who treated Jamie as another granddaughter, as if they didn't have enough.  
  
"Lucas? Are you ready to come to the Pub?"   
  
"Are we, Buddy?"  
  
"Yeah!" Will agreed.  
  
"Is Nicole coming?"  
  
"No. That would only make this thing worse than it's already going to be. A lot of the Bradys blame her for running Eric out of town, and this is a Brady party."  
  
"Not completely. We'll be there, and there will be others, too."  
  
"Jamie, you count as a Brady. I'm surprised they never legally adopted you. Will is a Brady, so I'm a Brady by proxy, much as I hate to admit it."  
  
Jamie cast a glance toward an intently listening Will.  
  
"I was joking, Buddy," Lucas reassured. "Let's go."  
  
Sami was sitting in the front window of the Pub, obviously awaiting there arrival.  
  
"Mommy!"  
  
"Hi, Little Man! How have you been?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Good? You had a good week?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"Kevin is having a birthday party in July. Is July a long way away?"  
  
"Not so long. It's the next month after this one. What month is it now?"  
  
"June!" Will answered, happy that he knew.   
  
"That's right. You're so smart, Will." Sami finally broke her engrossment with her son and looked up. "Hi, Jamie. Hi, Lucas."  
  
"Daddy and Jamie said they were staying."  
  
"I know they are."  
  
"Don't you want them to?"  
  
"Do you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then I do." Sami sighed inwardly. She hated lying to Will in any way, but she couldn't very well tell him she hated his father. "You like Jamie, then?" she asked, flashing her friend a grin.  
  
"Yes. I get to see Jamie when I'm with you and when I'm with Daddy but I never get to see you and Daddy together. Why?"  
  
"We're together now," Lucas pointed out.  
  
"Yeah," answered Will. He seemed unable to wrap his young mind around the next hard question that he really wanted to ask and he was easily distracted when Shawn Brady crossed the Pub to see them.  
  
"How's my great-grandson?"  
  
"Good!"  
  
"You know you're my very favorite great-grandchild, don't you, Will?"  
  
"Don't get a swelled head, Will. You're his only great-grandchild so far," Sami injected.  
  
"And he'll always be the first, even after your brother and sister and cousins get working," Shawn said firmly. "William, do you want to come help me in the kitchen?" Will nodded.  
  
"Do you want me to help, too?" Sami and Jamie asked in unison.  
  
"No," said Shawn. "We have all the Bradys in Salem coming tonight, and I'm not going to risk having the two of you back there.  
  
"Grandpa! I think I'm insulted."  
  
"Well, you stay out here with Jamie and Lucas and be insulted then," called a retreating Shawn.  
  
The three former friends stared at each other in awkward silence which was broken only by the arrival of assorted members of Sami's extended family. Dinner was blissfully uneventful, and Will was happy to be allowed to sit between his parents, who managed to ignore each other successfully.  
  
The presence of Bo, Roman, and John forced the conversation to drift to the goings-on at the "Cop Shop."  
  
"I wish I could help Abe with what he's going through," Roman was saying. "Those domestic violence cases are always the worst."  
  
"I know it," added Bo. "If I just could have cornered Franco Kelly on the case of that woman, Jill, being beaten, I could have saved Sami a lot of trouble later."  
  
All eyes turned to Sami. "Franco was bad news, Uncle Bo. If I had been paying any attention at all, I never would have gotten involved with him. I probably could have helped you take him down, even."  
  
"That's not your job, Sami. It's mine. I wish women in Jill's situation would accept that we CAN protect them and stop covering for their attackers."  
  
"It isn't that simple, Bo. They always think that they can change the man, that he didn't really mean it . . ." John drew Bo's attention back to the other end of the table. Sami's sister Belle and her cousin Shawn were bickering over something near the bar, and Sami, Jamie, and Lucas, the only members of their generation in the room, were left to their own devices, much to Jamie's delight. She had noticed Sami's strange reaction to the discussion and she wanted to know her friend's reasons.  
  
"Sami? Are you okay?"  
  
"Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"  
  
"When you were talking to your Uncle Bo about Franco and Jill, you seemed a little upset."  
  
"Well, yeah. Franco tried to marry me for a green card while he had a stripper on the side, and I wound up on death row for his murder. And Jill, I never met her, but don't you always hate to see a woman caught in that kind of situation?"  
  
"That's everything?"  
  
"Why are you asking me this?" Passionate anger crept into Sami's voice. "Leave me alone, Jamie!" Before the attention of the others in the room could be drawn to her, Sami stood up. "Thank you for tonight, Grandma and Grandpa," she said calmly and politely. "Will and I are going home a little bit early so we can get settled." With that, she left, barely allowing her son to say good-bye to his father and pointedly failing to invite Jamie to come home with her although they nearly lived together.  
  
Jamie flushed. "Why did I do that?" she whispered.  
  
"You didn't *do* anything," Lucas whispered back. "She's just flying off the handle for no reason, like she always does."  
  
Jamie leaned away from him, looking so uncomfortable that Lucas forgot his own annoyance at Sami for rushing Will out so quickly. "Do you want to get out of here?" he whispered. Jamie could only nod. She numbly went along with Lucas as he made her excuses and guided her out of the Pub. Once out of the restaurant, she was able to relax and thank him.  
  
"It was nothing. I didn't want to stay there without Will, either."  
  
"Do you think it looked strange? Us both coming together and leaving together?"  
  
"Why would that look strange? You're supposed to go home with the one you came with."  
  
"Even if you're married to someone else and I live a lot closer to Sami than to you?"  
  
"They know I'm not really married. They know we've been friends since we were teenagers. This isn't really what you're worried about."  
  
"No, it isn't. I mean, Sami may hate you, but she doesn't hate me. She doesn't just snap like that except when she really feels cornered."  
  
"You're right. But she had no reason to feel cornered tonight. She was at home with her family all around her. No one was accusing her of anything. Everyone actually seemed pretty happy."  
  
"Until she started squirming when Bo and Roman and John started talking about domestic violence."  
  
"I noticed that, too, but why did you force the issue? I think it's obvious why the subject bothers her, like she said."  
  
"I don't."  
  
"Obviously."  
  
"I think that something strange is going on between her and Brandon."  
  
"This is Sami Brady we're talking about. Strange is pretty much a given."  
  
"But you know how bad her taste in men always is."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"I didn't mean you. Or Austin."  
  
"So you're basically just thinking that because she was stupid enough to date Alan when she was very young she might be stupid enough to date someone like that again."  
  
"It isn't just Alan. There's that model she almost married, Franco?"  
  
"Yeah, the Italian Stallion."  
  
Jamie was caught by surprise. "What?"  
  
"Have you ever seen a picture of him?"  
  
"Yeah, Sami found an old ad to show me. I can see why you'd call him that."  
  
"Good. Glad to know you aren't blind."  
  
"But Bo was just saying that Franco was suspected of beating a woman. And Sami told me herself that he was proven to be violent by the stripper who he cheated on her with. Candy, her name was."  
  
"A very popular name for strippers." Jamie turned to look at him. "Not that I'd *know*."  
  
"This could be serious, Lucas."  
  
"It could be. It probably isn't."  
  
Jamie turned away nervously, so Lucas continued. "I'm not saying this because I don't like Sami. She's still Will's mother and I don't want Will to see her in that kind of situation. I even know some things you don't about Brandon and Nicole and their *interesting* relationship with their father. He's in jail, by the way, or he was this time last year, and one of the things he did was hit his wife and kids."  
  
"That's more evidence that something is going on! These things happen in a pattern. I study this. I know."  
  
"So do I. But do you have any evidence at all that Brandon has done anything to Sami, besides that his father was abusive and she ran out of the Pub tonight after a discussion of abuse?"  
  
"Just a feeling. I don't think she's as happy with Brandon as she should be."  
  
"They've been together a few months. It's probably just the first rough spot of their relationship. She doesn't know anything about functional relationships. I'm sure she's just confused."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Jamie, I swear, if you ever get any more evidence, I will help you. Haven't I always?"  
  
"You liked Sami then."  
  
"True, but she hadn't had my child." He suddenly became aware that the last time he and Jamie had had a discussion like this, Sami had been hiding out in Seattle-- and she HAD been pregnant with Will. Why hadn't he known? He never would have wasted so much time in blackmailing Vivian into bringing Sami back if he'd had any idea what was going on with her.  
  
"Thank you, Lucas. You've been a really good friend tonight."  
  
"That's only fair. You're always a good friend. Are you feeling any better?"  
  
"A little," she answered honestly.  
  
"Want to go somewhere before I take you home?"  
  
"You don't have to take me home."  
  
"You aren't walking or taking the bus."  
  
"Why not? It's summer. It's light out, and we're hardly in the bad section of town."  
  
"Because nobody who spends the night with me gets anything less than a sports car or a limo, that's why."  
  
"Well, when you put it that way . . ."  
  
"So, *do* you want to go somewhere else before you head home?"  
  
"What do you have in mind?"  
  
"Just Salem Place, probably. I haven't had any time to plan."  
  
"Do you want to do anything?"  
  
"Yes. I want to spend as much time away from Nicole as possible."  
  
  
"Then let's go."  
  
Smiling, they were soon watching the citizens of Salem from a table at the Java Cafe.  
  
"Thank you, again, Lucas," Jamie said after some nondescript conversation. "It's been a long time since anyone went this far out of his way for me."  
  
"It's not out of my way when it's you," he answered. Before either knew what had happened, their lips met.  
  
*********  
  
Sami supposed that someone other than her would have been embarrassed to leave the Pub in the way that she had. She, though, had been desperate to get away from her family full of cops and their opinions on why women stayed with men who hit them. She had been exposed to these theories all her life, and that was probably why she was so confused about Brandon. She knew that he was right when he said that men did a lot more than he had done to her. Was she over-reacting, or not? Brandon obviously liked and cared for her, and he respected her and understood her. That had to count for something.  
  
Beside her, Will was dragging his feet.  
  
"Want me to pick you up, Honey?"  
  
"No. We're almost there."  
  
"That's right, we are."  
  
She was startled to find her door partway open. Inside, waiting on the couch, was Brandon Walker.  
  
"Hi, Sami. Hi, Will. I didn't think you'd mind if I waited for you in here. Austin let me in when I told him I had a surprise for you."  
  
Sami noticed that there were gifts awaiting her on the coffee table, and that Brandon looked friendly and happy.  
  
Still, she had felt a pang of fear when she had entered the room with her son and seen him.  
  
That wasn't right.  
  
It was time to do something drastic.  
  
"Odi et Amo"-- part 12  
  
"Is that enough?" Jamie demanded of Lucas, looking almost angry.  
  
"Yes, Jamie," he answered witheringly. "If it wasn't enough, I wouldn't have called you. You do remember that *I* called *you* about this, right?"  
  
"I'm sorry." The ire instantly left Jamie's voice. "Can you tell me what happened? You didn't actually see her?"  
  
"No, I didn't. She came over here and asked to see Will's nanny. When she was sure she was around and would be around even though it isn't my custody week, she just handed Will over."  
  
"This is bad. Something has to be really, seriously wrong."  
  
"I know. Sami would never do this unless she thought that Will was really in danger, and I don't see what he can be in danger from, other than Brandon."  
  
"What should we do? Just confront her?"  
  
"You have a better idea?"  
  
"No, but she does have a habit of getting mad and stomping out when someone tells her she's doing something wrong. Especially you."  
  
"But she does listen to you."  
  
"She pretends to listen to me. She patronizes me. She'll say, okay, Jamie, I won't sneak up to Green Mountain Lodge to interrupt Austin and Carrie, and then as soon as I'm not looking she'll steal your car keys and be on her way."  
  
"Yeah. My eighteenth birthday BMW . . ."  
  
Jamie glared at him. "You've bought flashier cars since then. It hardly mattered."  
  
"Relax. All I was worried about at the time was Sami's safety, and her baby's. Will's." Lucas cringed anew. If he had known, Sami would not have been able to play any of her tricks because he would have been by her side making sure she took care of herself. He'd almost stayed with her that night, anyway, if he remembered correctly. Austin and Carrie had been gone and she really hadn't looked like she felt well. "You were there. You know that," he finished.  
  
"But speaking of Austin, he has his suspicions about this relationship, too. Maybe we should wait until we've talked to him. That's one person Sami ALWAYS listens to."  
  
"He isn't here!" argued an increasingly agitated Lucas. "He's out of town for a few days, and I'm not going to wait and then have to explain to Will why his mother is in the hospital, or DEAD!"  
  
"Lucas, calm down."  
  
"Calm down!? This is my son's mother, who has gotten herself into another one of those situations that only she could ever get into!"  
  
"Yes, I know, but you aren't helping Sami or Will. Sami isn't in that much danger, and Will is fine. Or he's fine as long as he hasn't overheard your screaming."  
  
"You're right." Lucas' voice dropped to a near-whisper.  
  
"Will *is* okay, isn't he? He wasn't upset over Sami changing his schedule like that?"  
  
"No. The schedule seems arbitrary enough to him as it is. And he said Sami told him this was just for a little while."  
  
"So she does plan to get out of whatever's wrong."  
  
"Yeah, she plans to, but she plans a lot of things and they don't always work. If I started a list of things Sami planned that didn't work, we'd be here all day."  
  
"Let's go then."  
  
"I thought you'd never be ready."  
  
They traveled in almost complete silence to Sami's apartment. Before they knocked, Jamie pulled Lucas aside.  
  
"Don't walk in there demanding things and accusing Brandon. We have to ask nicely what's going on first. Or I do."  
  
"I'll let you take the lead, but if she starts dodging your questions, don't expect me to stay quiet."  
  
Jamie turned her head so Lucas couldn't see that she rolled her eyes. She knocked on the door.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"It's Jamie and Lucas."  
  
"The door's unlocked."  
  
Lucas quickly forgot his promise to let Jamie take the lead. "You know what the stupid thing about leaving your door unlocked and asking who's there is? The people who you wouldn't let in can just walk in anyway, and they will, since they're psychotic enough that you didn't just say 'come in' to them."  
  
Sami groaned. She had half-expected that Lucas wouldn't accept her gift of an extra week with Will without analyzing it and coming to some odd conclusion.  
  
"If I let you in, Lucas, I think it's obvious that I'll let ANYONE in so it doesn't matter whether or not I lock my door."  
  
"Yes, Sami, you have a son with me and I'm exactly the same as your run-of-the-mill psychotic murderer."  
  
"There's a run-of-the-mill psychotic murderer in the neighborhood?"  
  
"You never know. And I've heard there's a bit of a history of kidnapping in your family."  
  
"Did you have a reason for coming over here?" growled Sami.  
  
"We did," interrupted Jamie as she shoved Lucas out of the way and then shut the door. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay."  
  
"I'm fine. You could have called me or something, you know."  
  
"We wanted to see for ourselves."  
  
"See? I'm fine."  
  
"In that case, why did you give up your week of custody?"  
  
Sami ignored Jamie and glared at Lucas.  
  
"You went to court to stop me from getting any kind of custody and now that I've given it up you're complaining?"  
  
"In a word, yes."  
  
"I know I'm going to regret asking this, but why?"  
  
"Because I don't want Will to wonder why his mother doesn't love him anymore."  
  
"He doesn't think that. If he does, it's because you told him."  
  
"I would never say that. I always put aside my dislike for members of his extended family for his sake, unlike some other people I know."  
  
"Since you dislike my family and me so much, you can leave now."  
  
"You haven't answered my question."  
  
"You haven't answered mine."  
  
"Yes I did."  
  
"You said your reason for caring why I gave up custody was that Will would think I didn't love him. And we've decided that he doesn't think that, so that must have been another lie."  
  
"It was an over-statement. The fact is that I know you do love Will, and you would never give him up unless you thought he was in some kind of danger. And you've taken him on the run at least three times by my count, so it obviously takes a lot to make you think he's in danger. I want to know what happened."  
  
Before Sami could answer, Jamie spoke up. "Sami, we're concerned about you. So is Austin. You haven't been acting quite like yourself."  
  
"How would you know what I act like? You've been back in town for what, three weeks? Lucas hates me and sees as little of me as possible. And as for Austin, I don't see him here."  
  
"He's out of town, you know that. Otherwise, he would be here. One of the first things he said to me the day I came back to Salem was that he was worried about you."  
  
"He said it to you, and not to me?"  
  
"He didn't want to interfere in your relationship with Brandon."  
  
"Brandon. Now that's someone who spends a lot of time with me but doesn't seem to think I need some kind of lecture."  
  
"Maybe because he's the problem?"  
  
"He is NOT the problem. This is the best relationship I've ever been in." Sami inwardly winced at her choice of words and was relieved when neither Jamie nor Lucas chose to comment aloud on the relationships to which Sami could compare her time spent with Brandon. "Brandon came over here last night and he had such a romantic night planned for us that I decided to bring Will over to Lucas so we could enjoy it. My life didn't stop when I became a mother, okay? This is what other women my age do!"  
  
"So your son doesn't come first anymore?" asked Lucas, knowing the answer.  
  
"It wasn't a choice. Will had somewhere else to go where he wouldn't know that he was supposed to stay here."  
  
"He DID know the difference! He knew he was supposed to be here this week, and he's old enough to know if you're getting him out of the way for a little tryst."  
  
"And so are you. So you can go, and leave me to my trysts."  
  
"Sami--" Jamie tried to continue the conversation, but she and Lucas quickly found themselves outside Sami's locked door.  
  
"She's lying," Jamie commented flatly.  
  
"When isn't she?"  
  
Jamie opened the door to Austin's apartment, which was her for the moment. She was moving into her own apartment in the next building in another week, but for now this was very convenient. She walked in, not really caring if Lucas followed her.   
  
Lucas did follow Jamie, and shut the door behind them. "Are you all right?"  
  
"No. How could I be all right? My best friend is in danger and she won't let me help! She won't even admit it." She turned a look of pure anguish on Lucas.  
  
"Jamie, it isn't as bad as all that. I know you care about Sami, but she *has* changed a lot since you've been gone. She can take care of herself. She isn't estranged from her family. She knows she has people she can go to for help."  
  
"You think I'm over-reacting?"  
  
"Just a little bit. Look, I *promise* nothing will happen to Sami. She has too many people looking out for her. Including you." Jamie forced her eyes to meet Lucas'. She was unnerved by how well he made himself look earnest when he wanted to.  
  
"Thank you." She walked closer to him, and when she was sure he wouldn't object, gave him a thank-you hug. At some point, the hug became less of a thank-you hug and more of a passionate embrace. Both were unaware who kissed whom first, but moments later, both were sweating as they lay on the couch and continued to kiss.  
  
Jamie abruptly pushed Lucas off of her, and he gave her a look of objection.  
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"We can't do this."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You're married."  
  
"Not really."  
  
"You can't be a little bit married, Lucas. It's like being a little bit pregnant."  
  
"Come on, Jamie. You know the circumstances."  
  
"You caused those circumstances," said Jamie, unable to believe that she was rejecting the advances of the man she had spent most of her adolescence attempting to attract.  
  
"Sami did."  
  
"Not everything is Sami's fault. Sami is so wrapped up in her own life that she isn't paying one little bit of attention to what you're doing."  
  
"You have a point."  
  
"So, since you have an opportunity, why not divorce Nicole quietly now?"  
  
"I wonder if that would work."  
  
"It's worth a try."  
  
Lucas looked at Jamie long and hard. "It is," he agreed.  
  
Outside, an eavesdropping Sami mentally agreed with Jamie: Lucas should divorce Nicole now. She hadn't been planning to make his divorce difficult as it was; that just wasn't high on her list of priorities, especially since if they were both single, the playing field would be evened for the next potential custody battle over Will.  
  
Sami wasn't interested in the rest of their conversation, though. As long as they weren't talking about her, she didn't care what they said. Well, perhaps she was mildly interested to know that Jamie was still after Lucas after all these years, and she hoped for the best for her friend. She forced down the odd twinge of jealousy; it was a shame that her childhood crush hadn't worked out. Also, Jamie was blind to Lucas' faults, and Sami had a responsibility to her friend. Maybe she would keep an eye on that relationship, just for Jamie's sake, of course.  
  
Now she had to go and meet Brandon. They had agreed to find each other in Salem Place in just a few minutes.  
  
Brandon was not hard to spot. As usual, he was flirting with four or five women at once, but when he saw Sami he brushed the others away and greeted her with a kiss. She winced as she returned it.  
  
"What's wrong, Samantha?"  
  
"Nothing. Nothing's wrong at all. Why would you say something's wrong?"  
  
"You winced when you kissed me."  
  
"I did? I didn't mean to. I'll try again." She grabbed him and kissed him, this time successfully keeping her true feelings to herself.  
  
"That was better."  
  
"Good. You deserve the best, after that surprise you brought me last night."  
  
"You liked it?"  
  
"How could I not? Nice and romantic, candles, everything."  
  
"You didn't have to take Will away, though. We could have had a great time with the little guy."  
  
"I didn't want to share you with anyone, not even my son, last night. Does that make me selfish?"  
  
"Just a little bit, so that's okay."  
  
"Good. I really did have a great time last night."  
  
"I'm glad we're past the misunderstanding."  
  
"Me, too. It really helped how much you opened up to me."  
  
"You're easy to open up to, Samantha. If I'd known that, I would have told you a long time ago. But not everyone is so accepting of . . . backgrounds that aren't the same as their own."  
  
"Well, I've never felt that way. I mean, you KNOW how I felt, and feel, about Austin, and his life was a lot more like yours than like mine."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"It is ironic that your parents' fights used to be broken up by my father's partner in the police force." Sami could see that Brandon was hiding a grimace. He obviously hadn't been eager to let that tidbit slip, but it had been late, and they'd been drinking and talking easily. In a way, she *had* enjoyed the evening, and would have enjoyed it more if she had known for a fact that someone was home in the apartment next door.  
  
"Let's talk about something else, Samantha."  
  
"But this is such a good subject," Sami said encouragingly, glancing quickly over her shoulder to make sure the patrolling cops were in the same place they had been the last time she'd looked. To her dismay, they had moved around the corner, and she was nearly out of their line of sight. She grabbed Brandon. "Let's get into the shade."  
  
"Why? It's not that hot."  
  
"The glare is bothering me. Come on." Brandon allowed himself to be guided into the shade of a beautiful tree which was incidentally much nearer those officers. Sami managed to maneuver Brandon so that he had his back to them by suddenly grabbing him around his ribs and tickling him.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey. What was that for?"  
  
"Nothing." Sami slipped her arms higher up his back. "Those women you were flirting with when I got here--"  
  
"They started it, Samantha."  
  
"I know. They always do. Anyway, we were talking about cops, and Abe Carver, and hitting the women you're involved with."  
  
Brandon disentangled himself from Sami's playful embrace. "I thought we were past this."  
  
"Think again. What I learned last night is that you're just like your father!"  
  
"Why are you saying this?"  
  
"He hit your mother. You hit me."  
  
"My hitting you was nothing like he did to my mother, what he did to me! You have no right to say that it was!"  
  
"I admit you don't HAVE a son to hit, but if he deserved it as much as I'm sure YOU did, you would hit him, I'm sure of it."  
  
"I don't know what's wrong with you today, but if you're going to take it out on me for no reason, I'll go, and you can call me when you're ready to apologize." Brandon moved to walk away, but Sami grabbed him.  
  
"Are you mad that I said you deserved it? I just mean that your father must have thought so, since he obviously isn't your real father. I mean, look at Nicole and Taylor and look at you. Your Mom had a nice little affair, didn't she? I guess it must have been rough growing up with the truth written all over your face--"  
  
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were baiting me."  
  
"Baiting you? That's ridiculous-- hey, I just thought of something! Is ABE your father? Is that why you're mad at him, he didn't come over to your house to hit you himself when you were little, he let Nicole and Taylor's father do it?"  
  
"SHUT UP!" Heads turned.  
  
"Or what?" Sami reached out to grab Brandon, and he pushed her away with much more force than was necessary. That odd, frightening look came into his eyes again. She had been worried that she would not be able to scream when the time came, but she screamed now, and then worried that she had ruined her plan by crying out too quickly.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Brandon repeated himself, and he made his earlier attacks on Sami look mild. His hand wasn't open this time, and Sami fell to the ground without even having to fake it. She groggily fought to keep consciousness as one of the young police officers asked over and over again if she was all right.  
  
"No," she managed to mumble. "Don't let him hurt me, please."  
  
"We won't," she was firmly assured. Sami was vaguely aware that everyone in the mall was looking at them. Everything remained blurry as she was escorted to the police station along with a handcuffed Brandon.  
  
Once there, she managed to regain some of her balance; that was a very good thing, since everyone in the station knew her.  
  
"Sami?" called one man.  
  
"That's Roman Brady's daughter," another remarked. "Carrie's sister. One of the twins."  
  
She forced her aching head to say the right things and sign the right forms, and was hoping to leave when a voice even more familiar than the rest carried across the room. "Sami?"  
  
"Hi, Abe."  
  
"I got a call about Brandon Walker being brought in. You had something to do with it?"  
  
"Yeah. Abe, I'm sorry."  
  
"Sorry? What for?"  
  
"I've known you all my life, and no matter what I did, you've always been so good to me, and Carrie and Eric and Belle and Brady." Both smiled wistfully as Sami racked off the names of her siblings. "I never should have gotten involved with a man who had it in for you."  
  
"Had it in for me?" Abe became more intense than Sami had even seen him. She knew he must be like this with her father and John, but he guarded himself around Roman Brady's daughter. "Do you have reason to think that he does?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Sami, this isn't a game."  
  
"No, it's not. He told me last night, we were sort of on a date, Will should have been there but I was scared for him so I took him over to Lucas, and he told me that when he was a little boy you used to go to his house and break up fights between his parents. He obviously resents you for that. I'm sure that's why he's spending so much time with Larry, and Lexie-- he's after you."  
  
"You don't have any proof?"  
  
"Not really. All I can prove is that he hit me, and you were right to try to make him get counseling after what he did to Austin." Sami's anger grew. "I never should have gotten involved with someone who would hurt Austin, either! What's the matter with me?"  
  
The anger quickly left Abe's eyes. "Sami, this isn't your fault. That's what Brandon is here for? He hit you?"  
  
Sami nodded, and when she did Abe cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head so he could see her profile. For the first time, he noted the bruise that was beginning to form around her eye.  
  
"Why don't you have ice on this?"  
  
The ice lay dripping next to Sami. "I have it. I just wasn't using it."  
  
"You know they gave that to you for a reason?" Sami giggled and obliged Abe by placing the ice against her eye, although she had actually been planning to let the bruise swell as much as it would to make it look worse than it was. "Have you filled everything out?"  
  
"I have. I was just leaving."  
  
"Well, wait a few more minutes, can you? I'll look at this and track down your father and take you home."  
  
"You don't have to."  
  
"Your father would cut off my head and post on a stake as a warning if I didn't, Sami" he answered, softening his words with a smile.  
  
He returned quickly, to Sami's relief. "Your father is on a case, but he's not far away so he'll be over in a few minutes."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Can I ask you one question?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Did you try to bait Brandon into this?"  
  
"WHAT?!" Sami did her best imitation of righteous indignation.  
  
"Sami, it's still against the law even if you did."  
  
"I know. And I know why you suspect me of this, because of all the things you've heard me say to John or Austin or Lucas, but none of them ever hit me. Not once, and this is number three with Brandon." Sami froze when she recognized the approaching footsteps. It was her father, and she suddenly realized that she had not particularly planned for her parents to be involved in this semi-scheme. Her father would probably have a heart attack when he saw his little Peanut with a black eye. Her hands flew to her hair, undoing the braids so the loose strands would cover part of her face.  
  
She hadn't needed to worry. Her father's keen eyes took in the situation quickly, and he gathered her into a hug. "She finished?" he asked Abe.  
  
"For now."  
  
"Then let's go home."  
  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 13  
  
Nicole shifted in her seat and moved the phone to her other ear. "Does Mom know why you're there?" she asked when Brandon paused to take a breath.  
  
"No. She knows I was in jail, but not what for."  
  
"You gonna tell her?"  
  
"I haven't decided. I don't want to upset her by not telling her the truth, but I also don't want to have to tell her that I became some clone of Dad."  
  
"Brandon, you are not a clone of Dad! You never will be. What you were was set up by the manipulating little bitch. And we'll get her back, Brandon, we will. She's crossed us both now. She has custody of her little brat, but she won't tell me one damn thing about Eric! Not his address, not his phone number, not even how he's doing!"  
  
"Nicky. I'm kind of tired for this right now, okay? I've spent the past two weeks at hearings and interrogations and being confronted by every friend I thought I'd made in this town. Not to mention getting fired from the best job I've ever had, saying good-bye to my patients, getting glared at by Samantha's family . . ."  
  
"Is it as bad as all that?"  
  
"Larry hates me, Lexie hates me so much she got me fired . . . because of that talk I had with Samantha the night before I went to jail, she told everyone involved that I was out to get Abe because he was one of the officers who came to our house when Mom and Dad fought."  
  
"Were you?"  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
"No that much now that it's over. But you know I worried about your temper."  
  
"This proves you were right. I have to do something about it. I never meant to hurt Samantha."  
  
"Well, she deserved it, I'm sure. You never did tell me what she said to make you act like that, and in public, too!"  
  
"It's not important."  
  
"It is! You lost your job, your friends, and even your stupid quest for vengeance which obviously mattered to you a lot."  
  
"I will still have my vengeance on Abe Carver. But I know revenge is a dish best served cold, Nicky. I have to wait."  
  
"What about vengeance on Sami?"  
  
"No."  
  
"NO?! She's the cause of all of our problems."  
  
"Our problems started when you married Lucas for his money and not a minute after."  
  
"You call those problems? You were perfectly happy to live off him in the beginning."  
  
"Yeah, but it got worse and worse as you realized you couldn't stand him."  
  
"I can stand him. I just can't stand being married to him, especially now that I'm his prisoner."  
  
"Don't use the term 'prisoner' loosely, okay?"  
  
"Sorry. Anyway, he seems to be ready for a divorce now. We'll just make sure I get some nice alimony payments. And to get back to the original point, how can you want vengeance on Abe for apparently doing nothing after all these years but not care what happens to Sami?"  
  
"I DO care what happens to Samantha. That's why I don't want to try to make her pay for this."  
  
"Why? How can you care?"  
  
"Would you still care about Eric if he hurt you?"  
  
"Maybe. But Eric WOULDN'T get me thrown in jail, so it's irrelevant. Have you even seen Sami since she had you locked up?"  
  
"She has a restraining order, but it's going to run out in another six weeks. I did see her once." Brandon sounded disgusted.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"She had her father on one side of her and her uncle on the other, and they both had their hands on their guns even though I was under lock and key."  
  
"Did she talk to you at all?"  
  
"She mostly ranted at me about how she never should have dated the brother of the woman who jilted her precious twin, or who hurt Saint Austin, or who thought her 'Uncle Abe' was less than perfect." Brandon's voice grew more derisive with each name he mentioned. "But the thing is, despite all of that, she does like me. I can see it. And we really did have a good time on a lot of our dates."  
  
"And then she had you thrown in jail!"  
  
"She isn't pressing charges. She could make this a lot worse."  
  
"Why can't you get it through your head that if it weren't for her you would be working a job you love and living in an apartment you love and generally living a life you love instead of hiding out in your mother's house talking to your sister on the phone?"  
  
"Why can't you get it through YOUR head that I happen to like Samantha enough not to want to punish her? I can get a job in another city. An apartment, too. And Nicky, I think you should come."  
  
"You can't leave me! And I can't leave Eric."  
  
"Eric isn't here. Eric is in Colorado and he obviously doesn't want to talk to you."  
  
"But when he decides that he does, he has to know how to find me. And I can't count on Sami and Lucas to pass word along."  
  
"You're a model. You're in the public eye. I'm sure he'll be able to find you."  
  
"I hadn't even thought of that."  
  
"You should. You're in the prime of your career. Why work for the one company whose owners know and hate you?"  
  
"That's true, too," sighed Nicole.  
  
"So let's go somewhere, both of us. We have to be responsible. We have to make sure we can take care of ourselves, and of Mom and Tay. Some day, I'll come back to Salem because I have unfinished business with Abe. You can come too, or not."  
  
"I'll think about it."  
  
"Do that. Can you come over and see me later?"  
  
"I think so." She looked at Lucas, who had just entered the room. "I have to talk to Lucas, I'll see if I can be over later."  
  
"All right. Bye, Nicky."  
  
"Bye, Brandon."  
  
"So that was Brandon," said Lucas as soon as she hung up.  
  
"That's right."  
  
"How's he doing?"  
  
"Like you care."  
  
"Well, since Sami thought he was putting my son's safety in danger, yeah, I do care. Just not in the same way you do."  
  
"He did not put your little brat's life in danger."  
  
"Didn't we decide a while ago that you were not to refer to MY son that way?"  
  
"We didn't decide. You decreed. And I'm tired of your decreeing, Lucas. I know you're mad at me. I know I cheated on you and I know that's wrong. This marriage has gone bad and we aren't even friends anymore. Why can't we cut our losses?"  
  
"I suggested that to you a few weeks ago and all you seemed to care about was the alimony checks. So if what you want is my money, you can stay right here and get it."  
  
"Speaking of money, did you cancel my credit cards?"  
  
Lucas snickered. "Yes. I can't believe I didn't think to do that before."  
  
"So my only shot at getting your money is dragging you through court, not staying here."  
  
"You won't get it if you drag me through court. First of all, you're the one who cheated, and second of all, Victor will be more than willing to take care of any judge we come across for me. Haven't we been through this already."  
  
"Fine. Fine. What are YOUR terms for divorce?"  
  
"So glad you asked. You get nothing of mine. I get nothing of yours. We do it fast and we do it quietly."  
  
"Since you're the one who benefits from it being quick and quiet, shouldn't I get some kind of compensation?"  
  
"You've had your compensation. I refuse to believe that being married to me was that much of a chore that you need more. Nicole, I did everything I could do to make you happy, to make this marriage work, and you turned on me and tried to make me miserable."  
  
Nicole considered that. It was almost true. "You married me knowing I was in love with Eric, not you."  
  
"Yeah, I did. But I promised to protect you, and I did. I promised not to force you into anything you didn't want, and I didn't. I didn't force you into my bed. You came because you wanted to, and once you did, you gave up your claim on Eric."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"You're SORRY? That fixes everything."  
  
"It's not as if you don't have your own plaything. What's her name, Jamie?"  
  
"Jamie and I are just friends."  
  
"Well, considering what I know about you and Sami, I guess you do do that with all your friends--"  
  
"We haven't-- I don't have to explain this to you."  
  
"Then I don't have to explain Eric to you."  
  
"No, you don't. You just have to give back my money and leave."  
  
"The bottom line of why we got married was so you could get Will and I could get protection. You've got Will, but a big part of protection is financial. Do you want Taylor to have to drop out of school?"  
  
"I talked to Taylor as soon as I decided I wanted to divorce you. She said she was on a scholarship and what she was getting from you was book money and spending money."  
  
"So? She can't go to school without books."  
  
"And I put more than enough to get her through the rest of school in her student account where her obnoxious older siblings can't get to it and use it for something else."  
  
"Don't call Brandon and me names."  
  
"If I'd just given the money to you you never would have given it to Taylor and you know it."  
  
"That isn't true. My family has always protected Taylor from everything. And Mom."  
  
"You hate your mother. You didn't even want me to meet her."  
  
"That doesn't mean I don't help her when she needs it."  
  
"You can help her with your modeling money. If you're nice about this, I won't ruin your chances to work for other companies."  
  
"This is blackmail."  
  
"You would know."  
  
Nicole sighed deeply. "Fine. We'll do it your way."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Can I go see my brother now?"  
  
"That's none of my business."  
  
Nicole caught Lucas' gaze before she left the room. "You didn't deserve this. I really am sorry." Then she left.  
  
"So am I," said Lucas.  
  
**********  
  
"Mom, I can't, I have work."  
  
"You have a perfectly good excuse to take another week off," said Marlena firmly as she nudged her older daughter through the door of her Penthouse. "If you really don't want to, that's different."  
  
"It should be a family thing. A special time for you and Belle and Brady if he changes his mind."  
  
"Samantha Gene!"  
  
Sami rolled her eyes. "What did I do to deserve the middle name?"  
  
"You are my daughter and Belle's sister. I don't like it when you revert to this idea that you aren't part of my family because I'm married to John and he isn't your father."  
  
"That wasn't what I meant, exactly."  
  
"I think it was."  
  
"Then I'm sorry. I just don't want to ruin this for Belle."  
  
"You haven't noticed that Belle idolizes you?"  
  
Sami was silent.  
  
"Let me rephrase this. When you were Belle's age, would you have wanted Carrie along?"  
  
"I see your point. I'm still not sure about being out of town because of Will."  
  
"That's different. But I think that you need to unwind a little more than you have." Marlena glanced around. "John? Belle? Brady?"  
  
"Coming, Mom," came a muffled voice from upstairs. Seconds later, Belle bounced into the living room.  
  
"Hi, Sweetie. Where are your father and your brother?"  
  
"They went out to get pizza. Hi, Sami."  
  
"Hi, Belle."  
  
"I'm trying to talk Sami into coming to New York with us tomorrow," Marlena informed Belle.  
  
"Oh, Sami, can you?" asked Belle, catching her sister's hands in her own. "Brady doesn't want to come and Daddy can't. Mom is going to be at conferences most of the time and I don't want to spend all day by myself waiting for her to come back."  
  
"I'm not sure--"  
  
"Pleeeaaase?" Belle turned round, blue, pouting eyes on Sami.  
  
"All right," said Sami, laughing, as Marlena and Belle gloated. "But don't think it's because of that face, Belle. I was doing that before you were even born."  
  
"Whatever." Belle skipped off and quickly returned with a folded newspaper. "What show do you want to see?"  
  
"Why do you have a New York Times?"  
  
"Daddy gets all the New York papers."  
  
"And probably only reads the stories about the Yankees."  
  
"He says it has something to do with business. Anyway, I was asking Chloe which one she thought I should see. I asked if she could come, too, but the Wesleys are still trying to make her fit in more here."  
  
"So I'm your second choice, after Chloe?" asked a mock-insulted Sami.  
  
"I'd still rather have you than Mimi," smiled Belle. "She's getting nastier every day. How can that happen when you've been friends with someone forever?"  
  
"I don't know, Belle, but it does."  
  
"At least it can't happen with sisters." Sami did her best to put that statement out of her mind even as she felt Marlena's eyes on her.  
  
"Listen, if I'm going to come I have to go over and see if Lucas will let me say good-bye to Will NOW."  
  
"Call me when you get back, Sami," said Marlena.   
  
"Okay." Sami left the warm room and headed out to find Lucas.  
  
*********  
  
"You didn't have to come over here, Mom," said Lucas. "We could have talked about this over the phone."  
  
"I know, but I wanted to see you. And I wanted to see my grandson. He looks like he's over whatever you were worrying about a few months ago."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
"And I know this is a much less pleasant subject than Will, but you really ARE divorcing Nicole?"  
  
"That's what I said. Yes, I am."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"No, you're not! You've never liked Nicole."  
  
"No, and I haven't lied about that. But I *love* you, and I just wanted to see you happy, even if it was with Nicole."  
  
"Well, you don't have to be torn about it anymore. The papers are signed and we're running them through the legal system as fast as we can."  
  
"The papers are SIGNED?"  
  
"Yeah. I had them ready and when Nicole decided to be reasonable about leaving my money alone, she signed them. I think it was Brandon who talked her into it. They're both leaving Salem."  
  
"That's certainly a good thing. I do wish Brandon would have stayed around long enough to give Sami a little more than a black eye."  
  
"How can you say that, Mom? After what Curtis did to you?"  
  
"It wasn't the same. Sami is belittling women who really are in danger by putting a restraining order on Brandon like that."  
  
"You would rather have Brandon be allowed to get his hands on my son when he's that unstable?"  
  
"No, I'd rather you had full custody so it wouldn't be an issue."  
  
"But since I don't, isn't it better that he just go?"  
  
"I suppose. Now, HOW far along are divorce proceedings?"  
  
"As far along as they could possibly get since we only decided for sure that we were doing it this evening." Kate did not like the sound of that. Victor had gotten back most of his money from Nicole, but not all of it. "Mom? What are you thinking?"  
  
"Just about you," Kate covered. "Nicole, Sami, that model, Brandee," she rolled her eyes. "You've had bad luck with women."  
  
"Except with Carrie."  
  
"Carrie loved Austin. It never could have worked between the two of you."  
  
"You didn't feel that way before you knew Austin was your son."  
  
"We aren't going to start this again, are we?"  
  
"You started it, not me."  
  
"All I did was mention some of the women you've been involved with, and you sound like you're about to jump into your 'you like Austin and Billie better than me' tirade."  
  
"It is NOT a tirade, and anyway, I know it isn't true."  
  
Kate gave him a look of surprise and relief. "You didn't used to feel that way."  
  
"Oh, I did, but . . ."  
  
"But what?" Kate prompted, Victor's missing million dollars forgotten. She'd make it up to him some other way.  
  
"It used to bother me that you liked them as well as me. I mean, for eighteen years, it was you and me and no one else. I know I knew more about you than most kids know about their parents. I would have done anything for you. I lied about your business dealings. I confessed to killing Curtis when I thought you did it! You didn't have any of that with Austin and Billie, but you would still do anything for them that you would for me."  
  
"Baby . . ." whispered Kate.  
  
"And it's still true, a little bit. If Austin or Billie had killed Franco, they never would have let you frame Sami. They were both doing their best to catch you for her sake! If they knew, they'd be perfectly happy to let you rot in jail."  
  
"You're right, Lucas, you are. But you are all my children, and that kind of love doesn't come with ranks and conditions."  
  
"I know. That's what I said before. Now that I have Will, and for two years I didn't know he was mine, and I know that nothing could change what I feel for him, or what I would feel if he had a brother or sister."  
  
Kate looked at her son, and made a decision on the spot. She was not going to have anything to do with retrieving the rest of Victor's money. It would be well spent if Nicole stayed out of her son's life and Lucas never learned the truth. He knew much more than a child should know about a parent in any case. She had made him a partner instead of a son, and had made a whole different set of mistakes with him than she had with Austin and Billie. She would make up for some of them, now.  
  
"Mom?" Lucas again broke her thoughts. "Do you have a problem with my divorcing Nicole?"  
  
"Honey, why would I?"  
  
"You just made a point of coming over here to talk about it. I thought you might have some kind of plan, and after the Franco fiasco, I like to know about your plans beforehand."  
  
"No plan," said Kate, inwardly wondering if Lucas had always been that perceptive. "It's getting late. I should go."  
  
Lucas stood up with her, and hugged her. "See you soon."  
  
Kate nearly had tears in her eyes as she left the house, but her emotions changed dramatically when she saw Sami Brady.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"I came to talk to my son and yours."  
  
"Too bad. Go away."  
  
"It isn't your decision." Sami didn't have the time to deal with Kate tonight, and she brushed past her and walked right into the house.  
  
"Lucas?"  
  
"Sami? What are you doing here? You don't get Will for three more days."  
  
"I know. That's what I came to see you about."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"My Mom and Belle think I'm still wound up over my adventure with Brandon and they want me to go to New York with them for a few days."  
  
"New York is nice. Go."  
  
"Can you keep Will a day longer than normal?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"I don't have the number, but I'll call you when I get there so you can get me if you need to, all right?"  
  
"Yeah, all right. Did you want to tell Will where you're going?"  
  
"He's still awake?"  
  
"He's in bed. I don't know if he's awake, but we can check."  
  
They crept upstairs in a silence that was not-quite-companionable. The inside of Will's room glowed with the same eerie green light as his room in Sami's apartment did, thanks to its makeshift night sky. Will was obviously asleep.  
  
"Wow," breathed Sami. "That's elaborate."  
  
"It's not too different from the one at your apartment."  
  
"I know. You really knew exactly what it looked like."  
  
"I spent a lot of time looking at it the week we did your sky. Will just couldn't sleep, at all."  
  
"He looks peaceful now."  
  
"He does." Together they stared at their son, and Lucas fought the urge to put his arm around Sami's shoulders. It just seemed the natural thing to do.  
  
"Well, we can't very well wake him up."  
  
"I'll explain tomorrow."  
  
"Okay. Thank you."  
  
They slipped out of the room and shut the door.  
  
"I'll go now, then," added Sami.  
  
"I'll walk you out."  
  
Sami carefully avoided making eye contact with Lucas as they returned to the front door. She had suddenly been reminded of the time they had spent at her apartment, and her embarrassment returned. She was delighted that he didn't seem to know, but somehow disappointed that having his arms around her hadn't done a thing to him that day.   
  
"Lucas," she said quickly just before she left.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"For being such a great father."  
  
Lucas went to the window and stared after Sami until he could no longer see even her shining hair in the dark night.  
  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 14  
  
Lucas had decided against telling his son that his mother was out of town because Will had not asked. He thought that Will might be confused by the news that his mother was on a trip, and since Will had been so upset when they had first begun to share custody, well, not making things any more complicated than they had to be seemed like a good idea.  
  
A few days had passed, and everything seemed fine. Then, this morning, Will had asked for Sami. Lucas had told him that he would be going to live with his Mommy again in a few days, but Will had demanded to be allowed to call her. The hotel in New York had given them no answer, and he had explained to Will that they could call back later. Will had not listened; he had simply run off, and now Lucas was cursing himself under his breath for living in a mansion. Will could be anywhere.  
  
"WILL! Come on, Buddy, come out! I'm not mad but I need you to come out!"  
  
There was still no answer. The house had no shortage of hiding places for a less-than-five-year-old, and some of them were dangerous. Lucas had no choice but to look for Will, room by room.  
  
He entered the gleaming kitchen. "Will?" At least the knives were safely out of reach. He was about to leave the room when he considered the cabinets underneath the counters. "Will? Buddy, where are you?" He opened the cabinets in succession in case Will had decided to crawl into one of them. As he reached for the last cabinet, there was a mad scrambling sound. Lucas couched as he opened the door. Will attempted to get farther back into the cabinet, but it was not deep enough for him to escape his father's grasp.  
  
Lucas half-dragged, half-carried his son into the open, and then scooped him up and took him into the living room. He had been preparing to give him a lecture about not running away, and coming when he called, but Will was in no condition to be receptive to that kind of talk.  
  
"Will, Buddy, what's wrong?" was all Lucas could think to say.  
  
Will scrambled away from him and locked his arms around his knees. He began to rock back and forth frantically, and the sight so disturbed Lucas that he picked him up again.  
  
"Will?"  
  
He suddenly moaned in a way that seemed more animal-like than child-like, and grabbed the fabric of his father's shirt and buried his head in his chest, sobbing.  
  
"Will? Please, Will, tell me what's wrong. I can't fix it if you don't tell me what's wrong."  
  
Will only clutched his fists tighter, and sobbed harder, causing Lucas to worry that he would make himself hyperventilate.  
  
"Buddy, what do you need? What do you want?"  
  
"Mommy," he cried. Lucas was glad to get one coherent word out of his son, but concerned that Will was asking for something that he couldn't bring him with a snap of his fingers.  
  
"We'll call her again, okay? You'll see her soon."  
  
"Mommy's gone." Will continued to shake, but his face became almost entirely unresponsive as Lucas reached for a phone and began to call Sami. Again, there was no answer in her room.  
  
"Damn you, Sami," he whispered. "Where are you?"  
  
*********  
  
Sami awoke when her very hyperactive younger sister decided to jump on her bed. "Wake up, Sami! Good morning!" Belle cried.  
  
Sami glanced blearily at the clock. "It's not morning. It's the middle of the night," Sami mumbled.  
  
"Come on. You have a son. You can't tell me you have this much trouble getting up in the morning."  
  
"I told you, it's the middle of the night, and getting up for your son is different from getting up for your sister." Sami pulled the covers over her head and rolled away from Belle.  
  
Belle, pouting, jumped off of the bed. "What if I were dying? Would you get out of bed then?"  
  
"If you don't be quiet, we may find out what happens if you're dying."  
  
Sami heard Belle move off, and decided that she didn't need as much sleep as she thought she had.  
  
"Belle?"  
  
Belle appeared before her, and mouthed "I'm being quiet," without making a sound.  
  
"You don't have to be quiet. Why are you up and dressed and put together?"  
  
"Mom's already gone. I got up when she did."  
  
"Did you call room service for breakfast?"  
  
"No. That's why I wanted to wake you up. I think we should go have breakfast at Tiffany's."  
  
"Do you know what that is?"  
  
"Besides a movie?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And a song?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No."  
  
"It's when you buy something from a street vendor and look in the windows at Tiffany's while you eat it."  
  
"Can we?"  
  
"Why? It loses its charm when you have your father's credit card and can buy anything you see."  
  
"No, I can't. He gave me a list of places I couldn't spend money and Tiffany's was on it."  
  
"You poor thing."  
  
"I know. Can we go?"  
  
"Sure, just let me get dressed."  
  
"Maybe if you went like that, we wouldn't have to pay for breakfast at all," said Belle, eyeing her sister's sleepwear speculatively.  
  
"Let's not find out, okay?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
Sami quickly reprimanded herself for doubting Belle once they were on the street, eating croissants and staring at the jewelry displayed in the windows of the store. Sometimes, having a little sister was a wonderful thing-- just as good as having a twin brother, in fact. It was a shame that siblings were so often wasted on people who didn't know how to appreciate them-- like Lucas Roberts. Sami was sure he would get rid of all five of his siblings if he could, without ever knowing how much fun he could have had with them.  
  
But she was in New York to unwind, and not to think of Lucas, even if they had been getting along a bit better lately. She had been too distracted with Brandon and Will to focus on proving that Lucas had framed her for Franco's murder, and she was starting to doubt that she even wanted to prove it. Even if she hated Lucas, Will loved him with all of his heart.  
  
"Look, Sami. Aren't they pretty? Even better than some of the jewelry." Belle pointed at a collection of china boxes with quotes inscribed on the front. They looked at them in silence until Belle asked "What does that mean?"  
  
"I don't know. I can't read Latin."  
  
"Neither can I."  
  
"It's probably something about love."  
  
"Well, I got *that* far. I know what 'amo' means . . . oh, they translated it."  
  
"How nice of them."  
  
"'I hate and I love.' It says the rest of the poem is on the inside. 'You ask perhaps how I do this. I know not, but I feel it happening and am tortured.' Isn't that wonderful?"  
  
"Sounds pretty miserable to me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Tortured? You want to know someone that you just can't stand, that you would feel like a fool if you didn't do everything you could to get him out of your life, but despite that you like him and want to be around him?"  
  
Belle became more serious than she had been all day; Sami's mood was finally rubbing off. "Did you feel that way about Brandon?"  
  
"A little bit. Not much. There just wasn't any love when I found out what he was doing to Abe, on top of what he did to Austin and what Nicole did to Eric."  
  
"Franco, then?"  
  
"I had no reason to hate him until after he was dead."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"No one. I was speaking hypothetically." Sami threw her napkin in a nearby trash can and then looked back at her sister. "Do you want to go back to the hotel or did you have another marvelous idea for what we could do?"  
  
"Are you sure you want to? You seem pretty upset."  
  
"I didn't mean to. I'm just old and embittered, you know." Sami laughed and Belle joined her.  
  
"I was reading the guide book and it said that you could go to this square in the morning, and the tickets for shows that aren't sold out are half-price there. I know we're going with Mom in a couple of days, but wouldn't it be fun to get cheap seats and go to a matinee ourselves?"  
  
"Your ideas get better all the time, Belle-Baby."  
  
They took off laughing, and decided not to walk back to the hotel until the show was over. When it was, they were both closer to tears than laughter.  
  
"That was too sad. We should have left after the first act."  
  
"You think? I didn't have any sympathy for Kim until she killed her husband. If we'd left then, I wouldn't've cared that she died."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. Anyway, she got what she wanted."  
  
"How can you say that?"  
  
"She spent the whole second act swearing that she'd give her life for her son. She wanted what was best for him, not what was best for her--" Sami broke off.  
  
"That's why you're almost crying?"  
  
"I didn't say it wasn't sad." Just annoying for making me think about *my* little boy, and *his* father, Sami thought. Everything in what should have been a great day with Belle had been drawing her thoughts back to Lucas.  
  
They were startled to be accosted by a hotel manager as soon as they entered the lobby.  
  
"Samantha Brady?"  
  
"That's me."  
  
"We've been trying to reach you all day. You've had a call from Salem, and there's a problem with your son."  
  
"Will? Oh, God! How long ago did you get the call?"  
  
"It was early this morning but there was no one in your rooms."  
  
If looks could kill, Belle would have been dead. She shrank toward the elevators.  
  
"We have a cab waiting for you. There's a private jet to take you back to Salem, from Titan Industries."  
  
"Thank you. I'll go now. Belle!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Tell Mom where I went." Sami tossed her room keys to her sister, and took off following the manager.  
  
The manager looked at her oddly, and finally spoke. "Do you know Victor Kiriakis?"  
  
"Yes, I do." Sami answered so bluntly that he did not dare speak to her again before she was on her way back to Salem. The trip seemed interminable, and she was only able to speak briefly with Lucas thanks to interference. About the only reassurance she had gotten out of the conversation was that Will was not in the hospital and his life was not 'exactly' in danger.  
  
She was ferried directly to Lucas' front door, and, thanking the driver, dashed inside without knocking or waiting for someone to tell Lucas she was there.  
  
"LUCAS?"  
  
"Mommy!" Before anyone else could answer Sami's shout, Will barreled into the front hall and threw himself at her, sobbing. She reached down to pick him up, and held him to her. "Will? Honey, what's wrong?"  
  
"There you are." Lucas followed his son, and Jamie was close behind.  
  
"What's wrong, Lucas? He won't tell me."  
  
"He wouldn't tell me, either. All he wanted was to see you. I think he was convinced you weren't coming back."  
  
"Why would he think that?" Sami gazed at the child in her arms. "Did you think I wasn't coming back?"  
  
Will didn't answer, but he did stop crying, and looked at his mother.  
  
"Will?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing. Can I go play?"  
  
Jamie and Lucas exchanged a look of utter disbelief.  
  
"Can you go play with Jamie for a minute?" Lucas asked Will. Will nodded, and ran with Jamie back in the direction from which he had come.  
  
"I take it there was a lot more wrong with him this morning?" Sami asked Lucas warningly.  
  
"God, yes. Sami, he hasn't eaten all day. He asked for you this morning, and when we called and couldn't get you, he ran off and hid in a kitchen cabinet! I got him out and he was just crying, and panting, almost hyperventilating, he was rocking back and forth, I mean, the only coherent words he said until he saw you were 'Mommy' and 'Mommy's gone.' Ask Jamie if you don't believe me."  
  
From the look on Lucas' face, though, Sami believed him. "We have to get to the bottom of this, then. He might need a doctor, therapy . . . but now that he *is* talking, I guess we should just ask him."  
  
"My thoughts exactly."  
  
Sami followed Lucas into a room she had not yet seen, something of a playroom. Jamie and Will were earnestly discussing a plastic horse, but Jamie got to her feet and joined her friends.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"We're just going to talk to him first, see if we can find out what's wrong," Lucas informed her.  
  
"I should go, then."  
  
"You can hang out upstairs until we're done if you want."  
  
"No, you need to be thinking about Will, not me. I should be going, anyway."  
  
"Okay. I'll call you later. And thank you so much for coming here today."  
  
"No problem." Jamie and Lucas kissed each other good-bye, and Sami pretended that she didn't care.   
  
Sami and Lucas shared a long, hard look and moved as one to the spot where their son was still playing with the toy horse.  
  
"Buddy?"  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
"We need to talk to you. Come on." Lucas got Will to his feet and led him to a couch. Sami and Lucas sat on either side of their son, who began to fidget uncomfortably.  
  
"I didn't do it," he said quickly. A flicker of amusement passed between Sami and Lucas.  
  
"Didn't do what?" Lucas couldn't resist inquiring.  
  
"Anything. I didn't do anything bad today."  
  
"Sweetie, we know that's true." Will's head swiveled to look at Sami. "We just want to know why you were crying this morning."  
  
"I wasn't crying." Will tried to twist away, and his parents simultaneously reached out to hold him still.  
  
"Will, there are still tears on your face." Sami trailed her hand down his cheek.  
  
"You said this morning that you were upset that Mommy was gone," put in Lucas. "Did you think she wouldn't come back?"  
  
Will nodded.  
  
"Honey, I will *always* come back to you. You're the most important thing in my life, okay?"  
  
Will nodded again.  
  
"Why did you think I wouldn't come back?"  
  
Will was silent.  
  
"Buddy, it's important that you answer your Mommy."  
  
"Brandon."  
  
"What about Brandon?" asked Sami, feeling her temperature rise several degrees with anxiety.  
  
Will's eyes finally locked with Sami's. "He hit you."  
  
Sami held herself still as Will looked at both of his parents questioningly. Fury caused Lucas' eyes to grow several shades darker than they already were, and Sami was intensely grateful that she was not alone with him.  
  
"I didn't know you saw him hit me. If I had I would have told you he wouldn't do it again. You don't ever have to see him. I'm never going to see him again."  
  
"Good!"  
  
Lucas had recovered from his anger, and rejoined the conversation. "Buddy, why did seeing Brandon hit your Mommy make you think she wouldn't come see you anymore?"  
  
Will looked confused again. "He said," he answered, as if it should have been obvious.  
  
"Brandon did?"  
  
"At the doctor. He and Nicole said that they didn't see their Daddy because he and their Mommy fought."  
  
"He said that at that doctor's appointment you had before you got out of school?" asked Sami pointedly. As Will nodded again, Lucas' righteous indignation fell to the floor with a thunk.  
  
"Buddy, that isn't what they meant. Your Mommy will always be here, and so will I."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"We promise," Sami and Lucas answered in unison.  
  
"Can I play now?"  
  
"Sure," answered Lucas. Freed of restraining arms, Will jumped off the couch. Lucas pulled Sami outside the room and shut the door, which was made of glass so they could still watch their son.  
  
"Well, that explains a lot," said Lucas bluntly.  
  
"Yeah." Sami was guilty enough over not realizing that Will had seen Brandon slap her even when his odd behavior had started the next day that she felt no temptation to reprimand Lucas for letting Will listen to Brandon and Nicole's discussion of spousal and child abuse.  
  
"If you're wondering, I thought he was asleep when I was talking to Brandon and Nicole that day."  
  
"And I didn't know he was out of his room when Brandon hit me. I kicked Brandon out right after that, and I went into Will's room, but the door was closed and he was under the covers."  
  
"You and Brandon weren't yelling?"  
  
"No! We knew Will was there, so we were whispering even though we were fighting."  
  
"I can't believe this. We both *know* he fakes sleep all the time."  
  
"We weren't acting on it, though. We won't let this happen again."  
  
"It shouldn't have happened ONCE!"  
  
"I know that!" Sami fought back tears. "But we can't stop what already happened. We can just change what happens tomorrow."  
  
"All right, you're right. Don't cry. I've seen enough crying today."  
  
Sami ignored the end of Lucas' statement. "Now what?"  
  
"I think it's a good idea if we both stay around him until he goes to bed. Maybe we can put up with each other tomorrow, too. I'm sure Jamie could come if you want a buffer between you and me."  
  
"I don't need Jamie to be a buffer, but she can come if you want." Sami paused, wondering if she should continue. She decided she should. "This isn't exactly my business, but are you two together officially?"  
  
"Yes. Are you going to start saying she's a drunk and you don't want her around Will?"  
  
"No! There's no one I'd rather see you with. But I am warning you, if you hurt her, you'll be right back on my hate list."  
  
Lucas sneered. "When did I get off it?"  
  
"I don't know. I don't know if you ARE off it. But I know Will loves you and needs you, so making you miserable isn't a top priority of mine for now."  
  
"Thank you. That's the nicest thing you've said to me in years." He was still sneering, but now his voice softened, as he remembered that Sami *had* said a few almost-nice things to him in the past few months. "So, speaking of people you *are* out to destroy, you really are through with Brandon?"  
  
"I thought he and Nicole both left town."  
  
"Just making sure we have the same information."  
  
"We do."  
  
"Good. Ready to go back to Will?"  
  
Sami hesitated. "Is it okay if I call my Mom? I ran out of the hotel lobby without leaving a message or anything. And she's also a psychiatrist. I'd kind of like to talk to her about this."  
  
Lucas only then noticed that Sami looked like he felt. "That's right, you should call her. I forgot that you were in New York a few hours ago. Here," he led her away, his hands nearly caressing her given his current mood, and pointed out a phone. "Call her from here. Need anything else?"  
  
"No, that's it."  
  
"Can you get back to where we were if you change your mind, or if you don't?"  
  
"Yes, it isn't that far."  
  
"No, but you wouldn't be the first person to get lost in here. I'll let Will give you a tour later."  
  
"He'd probably like that."  
  
"I think he will. Oh," Lucas pointed. "There's a bathroom right there and the kitchen right there if you want a drink or anything."  
  
Sami smiled. "I'm fine. Go back to Will."  
  
"I'm going." Lucas joined his son on the floor and awaited Sami's return. When he saw her in the doorway, he got up to whisper to her.  
  
"Everything okay?"  
  
"Yes. I scared Belle a little bit, but Mom says she'll make sure everything I left in New York gets back here. And she says she doesn't think Will needs anything but two parents who get along."  
  
"Then that's what we have to give him. You know that, don't you?"  
  
Sami met his eyes and nodded firmly.  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 15  
  
Lucas pushed himself up on his arms as much as he could without disturbing Sami or Will. They were both still asleep, like he should have been after the night they'd had.   
  
He and Sami had put Will to bed together, making a point of being affectionate not only with him but with each other. It hadn't been as hard as they had worried it might be-- a little smile here, a brief touch there-- and if Sami hadn't genuinely been having fun while reading Will's bedtime story, at least he had. They hadn't been "reading" per se; in order to get Will to close his eyes, they had turned off the lights and recited from memory so there would be no pictures to look at. Even though they hadn't had the book in front of them, they'd been able to alternate pages as they told Will about the "Big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon, blowing bubbles, biking backwards . . ."  
  
He had been exhausted and had been breathing deeply long before they triumphantly declared that "that's what broke baby bird's balloon."  
  
They had gone downstairs to discuss their plans for the next day, and had nearly finished when a terrified scream sent them running up to Will's room as fast as they could.  
  
"Will? Buddy?" Lucas threw on the light and ran to his son's side.  
  
"Mommy, Daddy . . ."  
  
"What's wrong, Sweetie?"  
  
"I had a dream."  
  
"You want to tell us?"  
  
"You weren't here. You weren't here . . ."  
  
Sami and Lucas exchanged "well-what-did-you-expect" looks.  
  
"Do you want me to stay here?" Lucas asked.  
  
"I want Mommy, too."  
  
"I can't, Will--" Sami broke off her words when Will began to cry and Lucas sent her a warning look.  
  
"We'll both stay with you tonight, okay, Buddy? But not here."  
  
"Oh?" asked an interested Sami.  
  
"It'll be like a campout, or a sleepover, Will," Lucas explained as he picked up his son and walked into another room, complete with a queen-sized bed.  
  
"Lucas," said Sami warningly.  
  
"Will, would it make you feel safe if we all slept in here together?" asked Lucas, ignoring Sami.  
  
Will answered in the affirmative, and Sami glared at Lucas. "We can't do this! I don't even have any clothes here except these, and I put them on to hang out in tourist traps in New York!"  
  
"You don't have any clothes here. Yeah, Sami, that situation is completely irreparable."  
  
Sami had glowered at him like she hadn't since she'd last accused him of killing Franco Kelly, but she had given in and they had ended up here together. Will had not stirred all night, and Sami probably hadn't either. She looked like an angel now, with all that long hair and her sweet, young face. Sami had always looked innocent in sleep, no matter what she was up to during her waking hours. The same had been said of Lucas, but he was sure the contrast was not nearly as dramatic on his face.  
  
Sami felt eyes upon her before she awoke, and she slowly opened her own eyes and blinked at the unfamiliar surroundings. New York? No, Will, she'd come home . . . Lucas? Why Lucas? They had to break up Austin and Carrie . . . that was years ago, she hated him now . . . why did it even matter? It was deliciously warm, and comfortable, and she could stay here forever and not worry about where or why.  
  
Sadly, consciousness exerted itself on Sami, and she could think of nothing to do but whisper good morning to Lucas, and restrain herself from asking why he'd been staring at her. She knew her hair was everywhere, and that she looked considerably less like a sophisticated young woman at this time of day. At one time, so long ago now, she hadn't minded Lucas knowing how she was when she wasn't controlling her situation, but this was a new time and she was a new person.  
  
Lucas bit back a remark about the awkwardness of the morning after. Sami would have laughed once, but not anymore. Besides, he knew the situation would become much less awkward if he would only tear his eyes off of Sami, but he couldn't. He couldn't give up one of the rare times when his old best friend shone through the aura that was now Sami Brady.  
  
Will, in a rare display of good timing, jumped awake just then. Unlike his mother, he could manage to be coherent a second after opening his eyes.  
  
"Are we going to the zoo today?" he asked delightedly.  
  
"Do you still want to, Buddy?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"Then we're going," answered Sami.  
  
The rest of the morning was a flurry of activity as they got ready for the trip, but once they arrived, Sami grew nervous again. Spending time with Lucas was one thing when they were both working hard and focusing on other things, but the zoo was supposed to be . . . fun. And relaxing. She was not certain that she was capable of having a fun time with Lucas; even civil took a lot of energy, and after the way the past twenty-four hours had gone, she did not know where that energy would come from.  
  
Will's only real reasons for liking the zoo were the bears, so Sami and Lucas headed straight for their habitat without even asking Will what he wanted. Once there, Will climbed up to see over the fence and stared happily at the bears, neither moving nor talking. He was quiet most of the time, and always had been, and Sami wondered if today should be one of the days when she prompted him to speak a little bit more. His innate quietness sometimes bothered her, especially since it was a personality trait present in neither of his parents. Will would be starting kindergarten next year, and she didn't want him to fall behind his class because he couldn't or wouldn't speak up. Maybe she was reading too much into this because she was his mother.  
  
"Will, do you want to see anything besides the bears?" she asked finally.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Yes?" asked Lucas, sounding so surprised that Sami smiled.  
  
"What do you want to see, Honey?"  
  
"I forget."  
  
"You forget? Lions, tigers--"  
  
"No, Mommy. I wouldn't forget something like *that*," Will answered witheringly, and it was Lucas' turn to be amused at Sami's expense.  
  
"Can you tell me about what you want to see?"  
  
"They're like birds, but they aren't."  
  
"Bats?" asked Lucas, remembering that Will had been looking at some children's magazine about them a few days ago.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Out of the corner of his eye. Lucas saw Sami cringe, and he could not stop the smile that threatened to spread across his whole face. This was going to be fun.  
  
"Let's go, Will." Lucas took his son's hand and started to lead him away from his beloved bears.   
  
"Mommy?" Will called over his shoulder to a reluctant Sami.  
  
"Coming." Sami followed them, and Lucas hid another grin. Sami had always been cute when she was doing something she didn't want to do.  
  
The building where the bats lived was dark. Very dark, in fact; lit only by a few florescent lights here and there. The bats were an impressive collection from all corners of the world, and they were encased safely behind thick plates of glass, or so Sami hoped. She couldn't really see the glass in the half-lit tunnel.  
  
At least Will was thrilled. He was even letting Lucas read some of the signs to him. Sami's eyes strayed from father and son to an odd movement nearly lost in the shadow above and in front of her. When she saw and felt it brush by her hair, she could react in no other way but to scream.  
  
Luckily, the building was mostly empty, but Sami did attract the attention of a zoo employee who rushed to her side.  
  
"It's all right, miss. It was just a robin. Sometimes birds get in here and get confused trying to find their way out."  
  
Sami apologized and suffered through the rest of the ordeal in silence. She was immensely relieved to see sunlight again. Will ran to look at the bats painted on the side of the building, and Sami stepped back with Lucas. She glanced sideways at him and was thoroughly annoyed to see him grinning like the cat that ate the canary.  
  
"What?"  
  
"What, what?"  
  
"Why are you smiling?"  
  
"I'm at the zoo with my son, and he's very happy. Why shouldn't I be smiling? And why do you care? The idea of my being happy bothers you that much?"  
  
"You *know* how I feel about your being happy," said Sami, praying that he did since she herself did not. "But you aren't smiling because you're enjoying your son. You're making fun of your son's mother, and I don't appreciate it."  
  
"Well, you have to admit that it's kind of amusing that you're willing to bait a trained boxer into punching you but you're afraid of a bat."  
  
"I can't get the police to come and protect me from a bat."  
  
"Oh, poor Sami." Lucas reached out to give her a sarcastic half-hug, and was instantly sorry when his heart jumped as soon as he touched her. He had thought he had passed this stage long ago. He had been jealous when she had dated Franco because despite their difference, she had been his friend, his partner, *his*; but he hadn't felt a thing but distaste for her since the day he had tried to tell her how Franco had come to die and Will had been hurt and she had responded by attempting to strangle him. Maybe he shouldn't touch her , even in sarcasm.  
  
Will ended his internal monologue by returning and announcing that they should all get ice cream. Will continued to distract his parents so thoroughly that Lucas did not realize what he had forgotten until they arrived home.  
  
"Damn," he muttered under his breath.  
  
"What?" asked Sami.  
  
"I forgot to call Jamie."  
  
Sami raised her eyebrows. "Make sure you tell her you spent last night in bed with another woman. That will go over well."  
  
"Ha ha. Luckily for me, Jamie understands our twisted little relationship. She was here to watch most of it."  
  
Sami could not argue with that, so Lucas rounded up a Titan limousine to collect Jamie in relative peace. Sami did feel the need to ask aloud if that would impress Jamie.  
  
"I'm not trying to impress her. I'm trying to make things easier for her since I forgot about her, okay? Why are you so interested?"  
  
"Jamie is my best friend. I don't want to watch you hurt her."  
  
"I don't go around hurting women. Only the kind of man that *you* seem to be hopelessly attracted to does that."  
  
"Austin--"  
  
"Spent years treating Carrie like her feelings didn't matter at all and the only important thing in the world was her sick little sister. And he's the best one in the bunch! Do we need to go over what Brandon did, or Franco?"  
  
"At least Franco didn't shoot anyone in cold blood."  
  
"He worked for the mob. You never know. Didn't your uncle almost nail him for killing someone out on the island?"  
  
"Almost doesn't count."  
  
"Then it shouldn't count against me, since you have never been able to prove that I had anything to do with his death."  
  
"Not yet."  
  
"Not ever."  
  
"I am going to check on *my* son."  
  
"Good. Go. Don't interrupt Jamie's and my romantic evening."  
  
"You make me sick. And once Jamie gets over this little infatuation of hers, she'll agree with me." Sami stomped off after Will, and Lucas impatiently awaited Jamie's arrival.  
  
A few hours sped by once Jamie arrived. Lucas told her every detail of the day's trip.  
  
" . . . Sami thought it was a bat, and she screamed. I can't believe that she can be so fearless about most things and then panic over a robin."  
  
"As you said."  
  
"Sorry, I'm repeating myself? I didn't mean to."  
  
"I know. It's just that Sami is so interesting you have to say some things twice."  
  
"Yes, I mean, no! Jamie--"  
  
Jamie held up her hand to quiet Lucas. "Sami is my best friend, Lucas. I don't mind talking about her. But you're pre-occupied with her. You're like you were five years ago; you're thinking about her all the time and you don't even know it."  
  
"That isn't true."  
  
"It is. Admit it to yourself if you won't admit it to me. Maybe it's how it should be. I mean, the two of you share a son."  
  
"We can take care of Will without being together."  
  
"You can. You *haven't*."  
  
"That isn't fair."  
  
"No, it's not fair to Will or me or you or Sami. Please don't be mad at me. I want to be your friend like I always was, but I don't want to be in the way of my godson having a real family."  
  
"You aren't. He can have a 'real family' without Sami and me being together."  
  
"Why don't you work through whatever it is that's between Sami and you and then think about that?"  
  
"It would take years to work through what's between Sami and me."  
  
"It's BEEN years. Get started."  
  
"I want to but Sami doesn't. You can't punish me for the way she's acting."  
  
"I'm not trying to. I don't think she's acting that way anymore. From everything I've seen over the past few days, I think she's ready to try to work with you, and while you're doing that, I don't think you need me."  
  
"I do need you."  
  
"Then wait a few months and see if you still feel that way. I could fall in love with you so easily. I don't want to be a rebound."  
  
"All right, some of what you're saying makes sense--"  
  
"Good." Jamie jumped up and planted a chaste kiss on Lucas' forehead. "Do you care if I talk to Sami before I leave?"  
  
"I don't think it would matter if I did."  
  
Jamie smiled over her shoulder and left in search of Sami. She found her in Will's room, telling her son a story.  
  
"Jamie?"  
  
"Sorry. I wouldn't want to interrupt Leo the Lop."  
  
"I know how it ends," Will told her sweetly, before promptly forgetting that he was not alone in his room and picking up a stuffed toy.  
  
"What's up, Jamie? You don't look too happy . . . what did Lucas do?"  
  
"He didn't do anything, Sami."  
  
"Then what's wrong?"  
  
"I didn't exactly dump him, but close."  
  
"Why? You've cared about him for years."  
  
"I think he has other things to work through before getting in any deeper with me." She arched her eyebrows meaningfully at her friend.  
  
"Jamie, no! Don't give up on this because of me. I'll work it out, I promise."  
  
"Sami, if you do, it will take time. And you and Lucas have so many mixed-up feelings for each other it's a wonder either of you functions. I don't want to be part of that love triangle."  
  
"You wouldn't be. We DON'T love each other, that's the problem."  
  
"You loved each other enough that there's a Will. You told each other everything, you were joined at the hip. Those feelings didn't just stop, did they?"  
  
"No, but when I told Lucas that I wanted to be his friend again he said no."  
  
"He says the same about you. You just didn't get your timing right. You should try again now."  
  
"Try what again?"  
  
"To be friends. To be a family for Will."  
  
"We are Will's family. That doesn't mean you can't be romantically involved with Lucas."  
  
"You might be right, but I want to *know* before I go any farther."  
  
With that, Jamie left.  
  
Lucas found Sami later that evening curled up in a chair in the room where she was staying.  
  
"Did Jamie talk to you?" he began bluntly.  
  
"Hello to you, too."  
  
"It's my house. I don't have to say hello."  
  
"And I don't have to stay here."  
  
"Your son would be very disappointed if you didn't." Sami sighed in response.  
  
"I know."  
  
"So did Jamie talk to you?"  
  
"Yes. I see you just can't hold on to women you didn't buy."  
  
"When you have a real relationship with a man who doesn't cheat on you or hit you or pretend you're your sister, you can lecture me."  
  
"Austin did NOT pretend I was Carrie. Carrie would have stayed married to him, and he chose me!"  
  
"Carrie would not have stayed married to him. She said that to save face. Austin kept you around to feed his ego."  
  
"At least he didn't keep me around to feed his bank account."  
  
"No, you're a drain on the bank accounts of everyone you meet, as well as on the sanity of everyone you meet."  
  
"What would you know about sanity?"  
  
"More than you, at least." He looked all around the hallway before slamming the door. When he turned back around, Sami was sitting regally in the center of the bed.  
  
"A little paranoid, are we?"  
  
"Well, you see, the mother of my child hates me and likes to tell lies about me to everyone in town. Yeah, I'm a little paranoid. But more importantly, I worry about what hearing his parents argue would do to my son." He joined Sami on the bed, and she knew she couldn't move back without looking like she was letting Lucas win. Win what, she wasn't sure. "Sami, the fact is, I like Jamie a lot, and she won't have anything to do with me until I clear the air with you. So I'm here. If you won't do this for me, or you, or Jamie, do it for Will."  
  
"Okay. You take Jamie and I'll take Will, and we can all four be happy."  
  
"You know Will wouldn't be happy without me. A few days ago, you were calling me a great father. What happened?" Lucas wasn't mad anymore; Sami hadn't said anything she hadn't said many times before.  
  
Sami suppressed a shudder.  
  
"Every time I start to remember what a great time I used to have when we were friends, something reminds me WHY we aren't friends anymore."  
  
"I did not kill Franco."  
  
"But you admit that it's very curious that you tried to skip town right after Franco died? It's especially curious because I KNOW *I* didn't kill him, and nobody but you and Kate had motives to frame me. Then we have the little matter of your confession. And don't bring up Roberto, because he didn't do it. He confessed to a crime he didn't commit because he knew he was dying. And isn't it convenient that Kate paid for his funeral?"  
  
"Circumstantial evidence, Sami."  
  
"And lots of it."  
  
"Why can't you forgive me for something you have no proof I had anything to do with when I'm not bothering you about your lie about my being a child-beater?"  
  
"Because we both know *why* I did that. Will had to be protected from you when you were drinking."  
  
"What does knowing *why* have to do with it?"  
  
"Everything. If you could turn on me that much, hate me that much, I have to know why so I know how far to go with you when it comes to my son. And to me."  
  
"I wish I could explain, but since I didn't do it, I can't."  
  
Sami's mind suddenly stumbled onto a new idea. "Well, hypothetically, what could make you do it?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"If you WOULD kill someone, why would you do it?"  
  
"I wouldn't kill someone. I'm not a murderer."  
  
"You wouldn't kill for anything?"  
  
"Self-defense. That's it."  
  
"So if you baited Franco and he threatened you? If he found out about your plan to take my son? No, he wouldn't have cared . . . if he knew something about Titan dealings and fought with your mother? Maybe he blackmailed her?"  
  
"I didn't kill you, and you blackmailed my mother."  
  
"Maybe she blackmailed him? Maybe she threatened to have him deported, and he was desperate? He didn't have a gun, but he could have hit her. He could have threatened you to get to her."  
  
Lucas did not want to have this conversation. The best thing about no longer living in the Kiriakis Mansion was no longer having the images of that one moment dragged up again and again. But he had to answer. "You know Roberto killed Franco. But *hypothetically*, if he and Mom had been having a disagreement, and he threatened her, maybe with one of those pokers that Victor has in that room?" Light came into Sami's eyes. "Yes, *hypothetically*, I would have shot him to save her. And since I DON'T go around shooting people on a daily basis, I might have tried to run. I was going to kidnap Will, anyway. You knew that. I couldn't let you take him away, I couldn't, Sami. But I didn't want to hurt you. I never would have framed you."  
  
"But your mother would."  
  
"And I couldn't send her to jail. If I had, I would have lost my mother and my son, when Mom was only trying to help me. *Hypothetically.*"  
  
"So, *hypothetically*, you WOULD have been willing to let me die for a crime I didn't commit under some circumstances."  
  
"No! I never would have meant for it to go as far as it did, I would have been terrified, but trying to get Will to accept me as his father, and trying to stop drinking, and physical therapy all at once, and my ex-best friend hating me and doing everything she could to hurt me . . . I'm glad it didn't happen that way, because everything together would have been too much."  
  
"Too much? If that's too much, then I hope you don't end up on death row."  
  
"I'm sorry. I'm more sorry than I can tell you, for you and for Will." Lucas' voice broke. "You know, for a while, when I found out Will was mine and you just wanted me out of your life, I wanted to hurt you. I want to see you *hurt*, like I was *hurting*. But you were made of ice. Nothing got your attention. And then when you were in trouble, it all came back, it never really left, and all I wanted was for you to live. Not just for Will, but because a world without *you* in it somewhere is just unequivocally *wrong*. That's why I was frantic that night. That's why I confessed."  
  
Sami's eyes filled with tears. She was exhausted already, and now she was more disconcerted than ever. Why did she want to take the easy way out, and pretend that Lucas was innocent? Sami Brady always had her revenge! But contemplating the expression on Lucas' face, she began to wonder if she'd already had it.  
  
Sami knew Lucas' face as well as she knew anyone's. She fought with him and laughed with him and schemed with him. She'd comforted him and been comforted by him. The day Will had been kidnapped by her neighbor Mary, no one had believed her but Lucas. She'd cried in his arms all day. She wanted that now, but she knew she should not accept it even if it were offered.   
  
Then, although, her eyes were focused on a fascinating seam on the bedspread, she felt Lucas move closer to her, and suddenly she was not only in his arms but sobbing against his chest. He felt the same. The same heartbeat. Even the same smell.  
  
Lucas was careful to position Sami so she couldn't see his face, couldn't see that he was crying, too. Then she lifted her eyes to his, and, as they had on a bad day long ago, they fell into a deep kiss.  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 16  
  
The moment seemed that it would stretch on forever, and then it shattered. Sami and Lucas pulled apart, wondering how they had just ended up kissing each other.  
  
Sami tried to beat down the feelings that threatened to rise to the forefront, but the blood had flowed from her brain and she felt physically dizzy. "This is wrong!" was her last, struggling rational thought. She and Lucas were fine as enemies and as friends, but they had already decided that they were *not* fine as lovers. She could not and should not want him, *need* him in this way. This was Eric's problem. If he had just controlled himself around Nicole . . . Nicole. Nothing killed a mood like the thought of her.  
  
Lucas leaned away from Sami and tried to calm himself down. He had been down this road before, and while Will was the best thing in his life, he had no right to make what had otherwise been a mistake again. His relationship on Sami was on shaky ground, but on the best ground it had been on for years. He owed it to Will and the rest of his family not to further complicate things by throwing sex into the mix. Not even if he had to subject himself to an all-consuming physical ache from wanting to pull Sami closer to him. Sami had made it clear that she did not want this. She had preferred Franco, and Brandon. Nothing killed a mood like Sami's taste in men, Lucas noticed with relief.  
  
Their faces were still mere inches apart, and Lucas brought his hand to Sami's cheek. "Are you all right now?" he whispered, hoping to keep the rasp out of his voice.  
  
"I'm getting there," she whispered back.  
  
"Good. No more crying. I told you yesterday, I've seen enough of that for a while."  
  
"You made me cry. Don't blame me."  
  
"*I* made you? How?"  
  
"I was fine until I felt you start to hold me, and then it was sort of a reflex."  
  
A reflex. Lucas was used to Sami not putting as much of herself into their schemes and time spent together as he always had, so he wasn't especially disappointed. "I'm sorry, then. You just looked so much like Will when he's hurting for a minute, and I wanted to make it better for you, like I can for him."  
  
You have a child with this man, Sami reminded herself. He thinks of you as a necessary part of his life, but not the way he might have once. Remember that. "You did," was all she said.  
  
Lucas sensed that that sentence was hanging. "But?" he prodded.  
  
"It doesn't feel right that I should let myself feel better when you're here. I know what you've done, and how my family would feel if they knew what I was doing here . . ."  
  
"And you're such a saint, such a perfect person, that you can't have anything to do with me except on the level of maybe mumbling hello when we pass on the street?" Bitterness crept into Lucas' voice and he didn't care.  
  
"It's not like that, Lucas--"  
  
"Yes, it is. You just said that you can't talk to me, can't tell me what you're thinking, not because you never liked me or never trusted me but because you're too good to have anything to do with me. Because what you did to me is meaningless in light of what I did to you."  
  
"I-I know I need forgiveness, too." The words sounded odd. "So I do forgive you."  
  
"And your *family*?"  
  
"It's not their decision. I've never put what they thought first before. I'll change their minds if they don't change them themselves."  
  
Lucas nodded but did not seem to have anything to say. Sami grew increasingly more nervous but would not allow herself to show her restlessness. "Well?" She finally asked. Lucas looked at her with a question in his eyes. "I forgave you. Do you forgive me?"  
  
He nearly laughed. "I forgave you a long time ago." He did inwardly berate himself for not saying so aloud, but something had snapped, actually hearing Sami forgive him for the worst crime of his life. He had almost forgotten how much it bothered him. Again, he found himself wanting to close the already minuscule space between them.  
  
Lucas was saved from deciding what to do, when Sami initiated another kiss. It held less wonder and surprise than the first kiss, but the physical response was the same. Lucas pulled Sami closer to him, and cursed himself one last time for nearly letting her die when she belonged not in some legendary afterworld but here, warm and solid in his arms.   
  
"We decided not to do this," Sami said reluctantly. She had just regained Lucas' respect, and she couldn't lose it by behaving like a slave to her hormones when she knew that Lucas did not want her.  
  
"I should go, then. Good night." Lucas disentangled himself and stepped off the bed, hoping against hope that Sami would call him back before he reached the door.  
  
"Don't go." Sami's whisper was so low that Lucas was sure he was just imagining things, hearing what he wanted to hear.  
  
"Did you say something?"  
  
"Don't go yet. I haven't been able to spend time with you for almost three years."  
  
"Okay." Lucas was almost hesitant as he sat in the chair where Sami had been when he'd first entered the room. "What do you want to do?"  
  
Oh, I think we should take off all our clothes and get a lot closer together than we are now, thought Sami. That kissing thing wasn't bad, either. She probably shouldn't say that out loud, though. "I don't know, anything. Come on, come back up here."  
  
"I don't think I should," said Lucas, hating himself. It was better to tell her now than to risk ruining everything they'd done tonight for the morning.  
  
Sami was crestfallen. "Okay. I know you must be behind on work with everything that's happened, and there's other things too. I was being selfish. I'm sorry."  
  
"No, no. Sami, it's just that when we were . . . talking before I wasn't feeling very . . . platonic. And you just said that's how we decided things should be."  
  
A thousand feelings washed over Sami at once, all of them pleasant. Every fiber of her being wanted Lucas here, close to her, inside of her. Jolts of electricity flowed through her veins.  
  
"You don't think you can keep things platonic?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then don't." She gave him what she hoped was an inviting look, although she really didn't want to sound *too* eager.  
  
"Don't tease, Sami. If you try to seduce me, you WILL succeed."  
  
"I hope so."  
  
Their uncharacteristic restraint vanished in the blink of an eye. Soon, both were on the bed, kissing each other, at first feather-light, then with more force and a need bordering on desperation. The temperature rose, and they began a night that would make both wonder how they had spent so much time apart, and why their time together had been spent contemplating Carrie and Austin instead of doing *this*.  
  
************  
  
Reality did not set in until the midmorning the next day. Lucas had gone to work, and Sami had taken Will back to her apartment. After immersing themselves in the mundane tasks of their day-to-day lives, neither was able to figure out if the previous night had been a dream or a ghost or simply the result of a few stress-filled days.  
  
Sami had not been home very long when her phone rang. Her mother informed her that Eric was coming back to Salem for a visit because he had had a conversation with a panicked Belle, who had convinced him that Marlena and John's marriage and Sami and Will's lives were in real danger. "Can you pick him up at the airport for me, Sweetie? I have appointments all day because of that trip. Oh, and when you bring him back here you can pick up the things you left in new York."  
  
"Yeah, I can do it. I'm glad I don't have to be back at work until tomorrow."  
  
"So am I, for Eric's sake and yours. Your favorite nurse is in rare form today. She even yelled at Larry."  
  
"Larry!? He took it all right, didn't he? I know he was worried about hanging on to his job when Brandon left. He wasn't even sure he wanted it."  
  
"Relax, she apologized right away. She doesn't take any nonsense, but she realizes why Larry's work has slipped."  
  
"Now I almost wish I was there. Tell him I said hello? Tell him I'll make things as easy on him as I can when I get back, I promise?"  
  
"I'll tell him. But he's really all right, Sami. And you have to get to Eric, so I have to let you go."  
  
"Bye, Mom." Sami hung up almost reluctantly, and then hurried to pack up Will's traveling things. They had to be on time to meet Eric's plane.  
  
She ran into the terminal with little time to spare, and was thrilled to see Eric again, even though he had only been gone two months-- as promised, nothing like the five years for which he had previously vanished.  
  
"Hey, it's my favorite twin and my favorite nephew! Hi, Will."  
  
"Hi, Uncle Eric!"  
  
Eric shifted his bag from one shoulder to the other so he could take Will from Sami. He swung his nephew above his head, and Will screamed with delight. He then removed a plastic game involving many balls and levers that was a variation on a childhood favorite of his and Sami's. Will was delighted and remained engrossed in the toy for most of the ride home.  
  
"He looks all right," said Eric after assuring himself that Will wasn't listening.  
  
"He is."  
  
"From the way Belle was talking, I was really scared."  
  
"Belle hasn't seen him since before he had his problem, and you know she likes to exaggerate."  
  
"Was she exaggerating when she said you flew out of the hotel in New York like a bat out of hell and took a private Titan jet back to Salem?"  
  
Sami winced. Why had Eric needed to mention bats? "No, that's true. But considering who his father is, the Titan jet shouldn't surprise you."  
  
Eric snorted. "So how is Lucas?" he asked, making it obvious that the answer that would most please him would be "six feet under."  
  
"He's normal, I guess. We're getting along a lot better. Agreeing about some things." She had definitely agreed with everything he'd done last night . . .  
  
Eric looked at her curiously. "I see."  
  
"See what?"  
  
"Ever since I saw you for the first time after you met Lucas, you've given off this really weird vibe about him. At first I blamed it on your lying about his being Will's father, but it never really stopped. It's changed now. Your much calmer, more affectionate. I can almost believe that you were best friends, for the first time."  
  
"Sharing custody helped. So did him getting rid of Nicole-- or don't you want to talk about her?"  
  
"First, tell me again you're okay with Brandon?"  
  
"Brandon is gone. It was a bigger deal for Abe than for me."  
  
"Good, good. I'm happy for Abe," he mumbled in a way that made it plain his mind was elsewhere.  
  
"So you do want to talk about Nicole?"  
  
"Did Lucas hurt her?"  
  
"He didn't give her any money in the divorce, and that didn't make her happy, but Brandon twisted her arm until she just left town with him."  
  
"Twisted her arm, literally?"  
  
"Poor choice of words. No. You know he wouldn't. I really had to do an awful lot to get him to hit me."  
  
"There shouldn't be anything you can do!"  
  
"Okay, okay, I've already heard this and you and everyone else is preaching to the choir."  
  
"Did Nicole ask you for my phone number?" Eric asked abruptly.  
  
"Yes. I thought you didn't want her to have it."  
  
"I didn't. But now I feel like I should have given it to her. She might need me."  
  
"You are NOT her guardian angel. She's a big girl and she can take care of herself." Her tone of voice changed. "Is responsibility the only reason you want to be able to talk to her?"  
  
"That's not enough?"  
  
"Not in this case, no."  
  
"I feel really bad about it."  
  
"Don't."  
  
"Then what about Greta?"  
  
Sami sighed. "She and Austin are together, and she seems . . . happy."  
  
"Good. She deserves to be happy. Do you think either of them is up to being my friend again?"  
  
"I'm sure they both are."  
  
Eric smiled.  
  
"You don't really have any residual feelings for Greta, either?"  
  
"I had a nice little rebound relationship in Boulder. It helped with all kinds of residual feelings."  
  
"So you're in such a good mood you won't mind stopping in Salem Place for a minute?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
They ran quickly into Ballistix to buy a few headbands and hair clips for Belle. "I have to make up for scaring her," Sami explained as they left. Eric trailed behind her, pausing to talk to the clerk, who had been a friend of Carrie's.  
  
Sami rushed outside when she saw Jamie pass by. "Jamie!"  
  
"Hi, Sami. How did last night go?" Sami cringed inwardly. Again, she had made love to Lucas without even considering Jamie. Still, if nothing came of this, Jamie didn't have to know.  
  
"Better than I expected. We're on better terms than we have been for years, and it's all thanks to you."  
  
"I'm happy for you, Sami."  
  
"What can I ever do to repay you for this?"  
  
"You're my best friend. We aren't keeping score."  
  
"But still--"  
  
"Still, nothing. I have to meet Mickey Horton soon, but can you call me later?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Jamie whirled away and nearly ran into Eric. She flashed him a cursory smile as she headed away.  
  
Eric watched her, stunned.  
  
"Sami?"  
  
"Yeah?" Sami was fussing with Will's shirt.  
  
"Who was that?"  
  
Sami noted with glee the undisguised interest on her brother's face.  
  
This was going to be fun.  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 17  
  
Sami grumbled to herself as she went about her work. At least her day was almost over, and when she caught Larry's eye, she resolved to try harder to focus on the task at hand.  
  
"Come on Sami, what's going on?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"You just did that completely backwards." Sami looked down at her work and corrected herself.  
  
"It happens to the best of us."  
  
"To the best of us, and to you, too."  
  
Sami mock-glared at Larry and he laughed.  
  
"Nothing worth talking about is going on. Nothing you'd be interested in."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"My twin brother came back to town a few days ago. I think he'd like to get together with my best friend--"  
  
"Austin?" Larry interrupted, raising his eyebrows.  
  
"No! My best friend from high school, Jamie. She's a GIRL," Sami added quickly, remembering that 'Jamie' was a somewhat androgynous name. "Anyway, Jamie was involved with Lucas for a while, and she backed out of that relationship because she wanted to make sure that Lucas and I spent time with Will alone together, so she won't let me set her up with anyone, least of all my brother. She thinks it's insulting, and it would be if that was why I was doing it, but it isn't. And Eric's the same way. He knows I don't like his taste in women and he'll be mad if I interfere."  
  
"So just let them be friends, since they're both your friends."  
  
"I don't want them to get into that 'friend-zone' where they stop looking at each other as potentially more."  
  
"Sami, this is none of your business. If you care about them both, leave them alone."  
  
"You're right," Sami admitted as they got ready to leave. She did not mean what she said, but there was no reason to fight with Larry. She'd known what his opinion would be before she'd opened her mouth. Jamie and Eric were going to get together, and that was that.  
  
Of course, Jamie and Eric were not the real source of her anxiety. She had only had cursory conversation with Lucas over the phone since the night they had spent together. He spoke to Will in the morning and in the evening, and they discussed Will before or after each conversation, but she was lost. She and Lucas had decided once that they could not be more than friends, and they had decided that for a reason. Had they thrown away their friendship before even getting it back?  
  
If she and Lucas had remained friends, he might have helped her put Jamie and Eric together, assuming he didn't have strong feelings for Jamie himself. Lucas had done a great job playing matchmaker with Carrie and Mike. But for now, she would just put Lucas out of her mind.  
  
She bid Larry good-bye and climbed into her car. She fumbled for the controls to the radio, searching for a distraction in the music. Soon, the notes filled the car. "I need you now like I needed you then. You always said we'd still be friends--" No. She switched the station. "How's it gonna be when you don't know me? How's it gonna be when you're sure I'm not there? How's it gonna be when there's no one there to talk to--" No. Anything but that. "I could've been easier on you, I couldn't change though I wanted to. It could've been easier by three, our old friend fear and you and me--" Not that, either. "I thought you'd come through. I thought you'd come clean. You were the best thing I should never have seen, but you go to extremes. You push me too far, and then you keep going 'til you break my heart--"  
  
Sami slammed the radio off angrily. How dare it conspire against her that way? She would show it! She turned and headed for the Titan building. She knew Lucas was unlikely to go home this early when he didn't have Will to go home to. Her old reflex kicked in once more and she looked for the light in his office window. It was on, so she walked stealthily into the building, attempting to avoid anyone and everyone who knew what Victor and Kate thought of her.  
  
She could not avoid Lucas' secretary, though, at least without going to extraordinary means that she just didn't feel like employing at the moment. Putting on her most polite smile, Sami asked to be allowed to see Lucas. It wasn't as if the woman didn't know who she was.  
  
"Does Mr. Kiriakis or Ms. Roberts know you're here?" the woman asked sternly.  
  
"No. I'm not here to talk to them. I'm here to talk to my son's fath--"  
  
They were interrupted when Lucas opened his door. "I thought I heard your voice," he said to Sami. "Go in, I'll be back in a minute." Then he turned to the secretary. "I meant it when I told you not to give her any trouble if she came here to see me." Deciding that the secretary looked properly chastised, he followed Sami into his office.  
  
"What's wrong? Where's Will?"  
  
"Will is with Austin, and nothing's wrong."  
  
Lucas looked at her oddly, and she wondered if she had made a terrible mistake in coming here. "Why are you here, then?" he finally asked.  
  
"I just saw your light on and came in to say hello and tell you that Will was doing all right," she answered lamely.  
  
"You used to do this all the time."  
  
"I know."  
  
"But you always had a reason. You're sure you don't have any more siblings whose social lives you want me to help you play with?"  
  
"Well, there is that," was the honest answer.  
  
"Sami, what are you up to this time?"  
  
"How do you feel about Jamie?"  
  
"I care about her."  
  
"I know that, but how much? I mean, a few days ago you sounded serious about her, and a few hours after that, well, you know what you were doing."  
  
"So you want my permission to manipulate Jamie? You don't have it."  
  
"No, it's not like that. I just want to give her a little push in the right direction."  
  
"What direction would that be?"  
  
"Toward Eric!"  
  
"Eric! He's back in town?" Lucas was obviously hoping that Sami intended to send Jamie to Boulder.  
  
"Just for a visit. But I'm hoping that he'll stay if he meets Jamie."  
  
"So you want me to hand the woman I'm practically dating over to the man who had sex with my wife?"  
  
"Well, I wasn't going to phrase it that way, exactly."  
  
"I bet you weren't."  
  
"Think about it. They're both too sweet for their own good-- they really are. Don't forget you stole Nicole from Eric before he stole her from you."  
  
"I don't suppose it would be safe to just let Jamie out on the dating market. She needs someone like your brother, the marriage wrecker."  
  
"I know you don't like Eric--"  
  
"No, I like Eric, I do. He makes me feel really good about how well I control my hormones."  
  
Considering how well he had been controlling his hormones around the person to whom he was currently talking, the jab fell flat. Lucas inwardly agreed that he should not hurt Jamie, and he *would* hurt her if he continued to date her. Besides, there might be a way he could benefit from this situation.  
  
"Come over here," he said to Sami, and she walked behind his desk as he slid a drawer out. He handed her an envelope of photographs from the latest New Faces shoot.  
  
"These are terrible."  
  
"I know. We lost three photographers in the past two months. The ones we have left are over-worked. Got any idea who I want to fill the gap, at least for a while?"  
  
"Kate already talked to him. He already said no."  
  
"Yes, but his dear twin sister could change his mind. It's a win-win situation, Sami. You want him to stay in Salem, and if he does he needs a job."  
  
"You want him working *here*?"  
  
"I don't have to see him much, and I do appreciate his work. And Mom and Victor are sort of squabbling again and I'm getting the impression it has something to do with me. I want to do something good for Titan that no one else could do."  
  
"That's how you got them to accept you as a real asset to Titan in the first place, isn't it? Convincing Carrie to stay after she was scarred by that acid."  
  
"You've got some very useful siblings. Is Belle interested in being a model?"  
  
"I wouldn't tell you if she was."  
  
"I'm sure you wouldn't. As long as you're here, look at this." He handed her a computer printout.  
  
"What about it?"  
  
"Why isn't it adding up?"  
  
Sami studied it for a minute. "You have those numbers backwards either there or there." She pointed.  
  
"You're right."  
  
"Do I get back on salary for that?"  
  
"No, but since that was the only thing that was even letting me pretend I have a reason to be here I'll take you to Chez Vous."  
  
"Chez Vous? Really? I love their pasta!"  
  
"I know. And we can discuss your brother's career and his love life."  
  
"Sounds like a good night to me."  
  
"What about Will?"  
  
"I told you, he's with Austin. Austin never gives him up until his bedtime."  
  
"All right, let's go, then." Lucas locked his door and pulled out his car keys.  
  
"Can I drive?" asked Sami.  
  
"NO!" That was one concession Lucas never made to Sami if he could avoid it.  
  
The dinner was a great success. Lucas agreed to lure Jamie to the Penthouse Grill-- not on a date, just as a gesture that he valued her friendship. Sami could get Eric there, and if they staged a minor crisis with Will, well, Eric would be far too much of a gentleman to leave Jamie alone.  
  
Lucas took Sami back to her apartment. "I guess you want to say goodnight to Will?" she asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
Sami knocked on Austin's door, and he called her in. She and Lucas stood in the living room and waited for Austin to emerge with Will.  
  
"So, you like Austin and Greta together?" Lucas whispered. "Because we can change that, you know. We can re-arrange every couple in this town if you feel like it."  
  
Sami giggled, and soon both were laughing, and hoping that they didn't sound too sinister. Austin rolled his eyes when he and Will finally came into the room. Will greeted his parents with elation, but Austin stood back and watched the family skeptically.  
  
"What?" Lucas asked after Will's eagerness to hug his parents had worn off.   
  
"It just worries me to see the two of you snickering like that. It makes me wonder whose life you're messing with now."  
  
Sami and Lucas looked at each other, and turned mirror "who, us?" looks on Austin.  
  
"I'm *shocked* that you think so little of us, Austin."  
  
"Yeah, do we *look* like the kind of people who would do something like that?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, you do. Except I used to think you'd both changed, and wanted to set a good example for your son--"  
  
A nervous cough caused their heads to swivel. It was Greta. "Um, hi. Am I interrupting something?"  
  
"Never." Austin moved to kiss Greta hello. "Sami and Lucas were just assuring me that they *weren't* going to start scheming again."  
  
Greta looked at them with interest. "I thought you both said you were beyond that."  
  
"This is for a good cause," shrugged Sami. "You know how Eric is back in Salem?"  
  
"Yes," said Greta cautiously. "We talked the other day."  
  
"Good. I knew he wanted to talk to you. Are you feeling better about him now?"  
  
"It doesn't matter how I feel about him. It matters how I feel about Austin." Austin responded by pulling Greta's face close to his, and Sami and Lucas did their best to keep their expressions neutral.  
  
"So you don't think it would be a nice thing if he had a reason to stay in Salem, where his family is, where his *alleged* friends are . . ."  
  
"Sami, you can't do this," declared Austin firmly.  
  
"You don't even know what I'm planning to do."  
  
"You're planning to live Eric's life for him, and you have no right."  
  
"I'm *planning* to give him a push in the right direction, as is my *responsibility*."  
  
"Oh? And how do you know what the right direction would be?"  
  
"You don't think he and Jamie would make a good couple?"  
  
"It's up to them to decide."  
  
"And they will decide, after they accidentally end up on a date."  
  
Greta giggled. "Austin, this sounds pretty harmless."  
  
"I guess you're right. Sorry, Sami. Sorry, Lucas."  
  
"I know we teased you when we first came in, and we shouldn't have," Sami answered. "Thank you for watching Will."  
  
Austin's face lit up. "Oh, we had a great time, didn't we?"  
  
"Yeah," Will agreed.  
  
"Are you getting tired, Honey?" Sami asked her son. "Want Daddy and me to put you to bed now?" Will nodded, and the three left Austin and Greta alone.  
  
Sami observed as Lucas gently helped his son climb into bed, and was struck by the likeness between the two. How in the world could anyone ever have thought Will was Austin's son? When Lucas kissed Will on the forehead, she bit down a pang of jealousy. She wanted Lucas' kisses for herself, but neither had mentioned the night that they had spent together and she was unwilling to feed her soemtime friend's occasional conceit that he was God's gift to women.  
  
"So, I'll see you tomorrow evening?" Lucas asked when he left.  
  
"Yes, but you don't know that. It's just you and Jamie."  
  
"Just me and Jamie. I can handle that." They were standing close enough that they could have kissed, but Lucas thought it would be wiser to back away. Even if he wanted to throw Sami down on the couch or the floor or the kitchen counter right this moment, she had said nothing about their last experience of that sort, and the first time she had wound up blackmailing him into telling no one that they had been together.  
  
Lucas left, and Sami noticed that her apartment was unbearably empty. Still, she did not have the time to focus on that. She had to call Eric, and convince him to come to the Penthouse Grill.  
  
**********  
  
Lucas sat across from Jamie and watched her as she described a customer from her long-ago days as a waitress at the Brady Pub. She was truly pretty, with dark curling hair and deep, sparkling, open eyes. True, she was no Sami Brady, whose impetuous nature made her already blonde-haired blue-eyed classic beauty all the more evident . . . but he was supposed to be thinking about Jamie, not Sami, for now. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the object of his thoughts enter the room, along with her brother. Eric looked just as he had a few months before. Sanctimonious bastard. He couldn't believe he'd let Sami talk him into throwing this sweet, innocent woman to the likes of him. Eric might betray Jamie with Greta, as he had betrayed Greta with Nicole. He had to do the right thing and tell Jamie what was going on.  
  
Just as he was preparing himself to tell Jamie the truth and beg her forgiveness, Sami caught his eye from across the room. "No," she mouthed. She then made a gesture as if she was taking a photograph, and then turned quickly to Eric, probably trying to explain the gesture away as meaning he looked so nice tonight that she wished she had a camera. Her point had been made, though. Damn Sami. She was always reading him like that. He hoped that Jamie found a reason to turn around soon, though. They had decided that their plan would be less obvious of neither of them pointed out that they were all in the same restaurant, and if Eric saw Lucas he was unlikely to acknowledge him. Austin had agreed to call Sami in just a few more minutes; he might have to dance with Jamie if he wanted the plot to go off.  
  
Jamie chose the last possible moment to notice Sami. "That's Sami," she told Lucas, pointing across the room. "But I don't know the man with her. She was with him the other day, too. Is he a new boyfriend already?"  
  
Lucas pretended to crane his neck to look. "No, that's the infamous twin brother."  
  
"Eric?"  
  
Lucas nodded.  
  
"I should have known. Wow, they look like twins, don't they?"  
  
"Surprisingly enough."  
  
Sami then 'noticed' that Jamie was staring at them and caught her friend's eye. She gave a little wave and pulled Eric along with her to say hello.  
  
"Hey Jamie, hey Lucas. Did you two finally get together?"  
  
"We're just friends, Sami. I told you."  
  
"Sorry," said Sami, making it obvious to all that she was not. "Oh, you two have never formally met, have you? Jamie, this is my brother Eric. Eric, this is my friend Jamie Caldwell."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
  
Sami's cell phone beeped right on cue. "Hello? . . . Austin . . . is he okay?" So much panic rose in Sami's voice that Lucas was not sure she was acting. She obviously noticed the real fear that crept onto his face, because she took advantage of Eric and Jamie's interest in her conversation to send him a second-long look that told him not to worry-- and not to miss his cue.  
  
"Is that Austin? Is there a problem with Will?" He stood up and moved closer to Sami, who switched the phone from one ear to the other so they could both listen.  
  
"Yes," Austin was saying. "Will met a Giant Panda at the Java Cafe today, and they've decided to elope and live in China. I've tried to talk him out of it, but he just won't listen. I think he needs some parental guidance."  
  
"Hold on, we'll be right there," said Sami. "Yeah, Lucas is with me, this is lucky. Just hold on." She slammed the phone back into her purse in a agitated sort of a way. "Eric, I'm sorry. I know I talked you into coming here--"  
  
"It's all right, go to Will. I'll talk to the waiter."  
  
"Jamie, I want you to stay. I wanted to give you tonight as a present--"  
  
"No, Lucas, I'd rather not stay alone. But go to Will, please." Jamie stood up.  
  
"Wait, you don't have to stay alone. I'll come sit with you. Any friend of Sami's is a friend of mine," except, of course, Lucas, Eric refrained from adding.  
  
Jamie looked very open to the idea, and Sami and Lucas hid their smirks behind masks of fear. Was Eric predictable or was Eric predictable?  
  
They ran into the lobby before stopping to congratulate each other. "You haven't lost your touch," smiled Sami. "For a while I was afraid you had."  
  
"Why? Because I can't hear that my son is in trouble without worrying even if I know it's a fix?"  
  
"No . . . not that at all." It wouldn't do to bring up Nicole, though. "I was worried, too," she added hurriedly. "I know that Will hasn't really eloped with a giant panda, but do you want to call Austin right now and see how he is?"  
  
"Why has it taken you this long?"   
  
Sami grinned with relief and dialed Austin's number. "Austin?"  
  
"Sami?"  
  
"Is Will all right?"  
  
"Well, he doesn't think it's my place to comment on the panda thing--"  
  
"Austin! Be serious!"  
  
"He's fine. Do you want to talk to him? Wait-- he has finger paint all over. Greta--"  
  
"It's all right, Austin. Let him be. Do you and Greta have to be somewhere tonight?"  
  
"Nowhere but here. We're really enjoying Will if you and Lucas want to stay and admire your work."  
  
"We might take you up on that. We'll be back in a few hours, though."  
  
"Okay." They hung up, and Sami assured Lucas that Will was fine.  
  
"Now what?" she asked.  
  
"It's been a few minutes. Let's sneak back and check their progress."  
  
"We have to be careful."  
  
"I know, I know. You don't have to tell me this stuff. Are Mike and Carrie married?"  
  
"Let's go." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along behind her, scolding herself for relishing even this little touch. Impulsively, she flew back toward the dining room, and was pulled back when Lucas' arm slipped around her waist.  
  
"Sami! Don't get too close." He yanked her behind a plant, and they crouched together, their bodies in full contact.  
  
"They're dancing! They're actually dancing already!"   
  
"Hey, we're the best." Their hands touched. They had done this countless times when spying on Carrie and Austin, but it had never been quite so . . . warm. Lucas had had enough. "We can't stay here all night."  
  
"No."  
  
"But since we're so good about setting up dates, how about . . ."  
  
"You mean you and me?"  
  
"Most people don't have children without ever having been on a date. And we're already dressed for it."  
  
"I would be honored," Sami replied, knowing that she didn't sound like herself. But it seemed like the thing to say.  
  
They ended up at the Cheatin' Heart. Both had virtually stopped going there after they had ended their teenage years, but suddenly it seemed like the best idea they had had at least since deciding to set Jamie and Eric up.  
  
The music was fast and they were slightly overdressed, but they danced to it anyway. Sami found that she remembered just how Lucas moved, and she matched her body to his. Years of friendship, more than any innate dancing ability made them the best looking couple on the floor. Sami was startled to realize that she was jealous when women looked at Lucas and delighted when Lucas glared at a man who ran his eyes over her form-fitting dress.  
  
When they returned to their table, they continued to view each other as more than friend for the first time. With their fingers interlaced, they leaned forward to kiss each other.  
  
Both burst out laughing.  
  
"This won't work, " said Sami with some regret.  
  
Made horribly uncomfortable, and wholeheartedly in agreement with Sami, Lucas threw money on the table and left the restaurant with her. At least they were good friends again, and they could go to Austin's together to pick up their son.  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 18  
  
Sami regretfully handed Will's backpack to his father and shut the door behind them. Nothing of interest had happened in the month since she and Lucas had set Eric and Jamie up. Oh, she had been able to bask in the glow of a successful scheme-- Eric was happily dating Jamie and working at Titan. She saw Eric every day, and he always told her how special Jamie was, how sweet, how perceptive, how caring, how much fun. She was tempted to tell him that she *knew* all of that about Jamie; Jamie had been HER best friend, after all.   
  
Jamie was just as bad. Every time she saw Sami, she asked why she had never mentioned how handsome her brother was, and how well he treated his friends. "No man has ever treated me like this," she gushed. "It's like I'm the most important thing in the world. I've never been this happy in my life. Eric and I went to the Blue Note the other night and he told me about the time he went to the strip club to try to prove you didn't shoot Franco, and Billie *claimed* she had never done anything like that before, but of course she knew all about it and she was teasing Eric for being so shy about being there . . ." Sami was tempted to wring her friend's neck and explain that she KNEW all of this, had heard about it from Austin and Eric and Billie at the time. Eric was her twin, and she had forgotten more about him than Jamie would ever know unless the relationship was on a one-way path to matrimony-- and it looked like it might be, at that.  
  
She happened to know that they were out with Austin and Greta tonight. All seemed to have been forgiven between Eric and Greta, and the four had been trying to get their schedules right so they could have this night for what felt like years to Sami. She was tired of hearing about it from all four of her friends. Greta and Austin had nearly moved in together, despite their promises to take things slowly; Sami never felt comfortable visiting Austin anymore unless she first listened at the door to see if Greta was there. And Greta was *always* there.   
  
Yes, she was supposed to be happy for her friends, but she suddenly felt like the same lost fifteen-year-old who had been heartbroken to realize that the family she had returned to Salem to rejoin did not exist-- her mother was having an affair with John and Carrie was spending all of her time with Austin. on whom Sami had had a hopeless, unrequited crush. She was all alone, without even her son. She would not see him for a long week . . . seven days . . . one hundred sixty-eight hours . . . ten thousand and eighty minutes . . . how many seconds? She may as well start counting now.  
  
Not that a four-year-old, even one she loved with all of her being, was the best company. Things had gotten so bad that she looked forward to work, not only because she could talk to Larry but because she could talk to *Brenda*. The nurse has softened her opinion of Sami as Sami learned her job and did it to perfection. It was still a boring, stupid job, but it was a break, a break from people suffering from the affliction known as the first blush of love. She tried not to gag.  
  
All in all, Sami was lonely. She should have held on to Austin. She should have worked things out with Brandon, instead of taking him down for Abe Carver. Abe was an adult. He could take care of himself. Jamie, Greta, Eric . . . all were beautiful inside and out and could have done fine without her interference on their behalves. But no one would ever love *her* without considerable work and manipulations on her part. Why had she bothered to separate Austin and Carrie if she was going to let Austin go? She walked to her calendar to put a red X through the day, a day that had begun with her son and ended without him. Why had she agreed to let Lucas take Will on Friday night and not Saturday morning? He had said something about tomorrow, but she hadn't particularly noticed what. Today was July 28. July 29, she could have had that morning with Will; why did July 29 ring a bell?  
  
"Shit" she cursed, not bothering to watch her language since Will was not around. She had forgotten. Tomorrow was Lucas' twenty-fifth birthday. She had forgotten to get him a gift from Will, forgotten to sit Will down to make a card, because she had been moping around feeling lonely.  
  
She glanced at her watch. The only thing she could really do was go over to Lucas' house claiming that Will had forgotten some things he needed. He probably had someone who would let her in, and she could beg to be allowed to see Will, and she could wake him up and explain. That would work, but only if she came up with a present for Lucas in the immediate future. He was rich, and probably spent more money every day than she made in a month. The classic birthday present for a child to a parent was a framed picture, wasn't it? But Lucas potentially had more pictures of Will than she did at this point, since he had held sole custody for so long. Although . . .  
  
She stormed purposefully to her bookshelf and pulled down one of several photo albums filled with nothing but pictures of Will. These were the earliest photographs she had; she had originally made this album to guilt-trip Austin into spending more time with her. No one but her had copies of these, least of all Lucas, who, while he had been a proud uncle, had been a bit nervous to go near a fragile-looking infant. She rolled the album over in her hands. She had been very proud of it, but it was absolutely perfect for her purposes at the moment. She could always steal it back and copy the photographs if she was so inclined.  
  
That decided, Sami wrapped the book in a few pieces of Will's construction paper that were handy. Purple. Will hated purple, so it was generally spared from being scribbled on. She put the wrapped book in a bag and covered it with a stuffed pony that she planned to say Will had claimed he did not want to spend a week without. That might be an unrealistic claim, since he had a real pony at Lucas' house. She exchanged the pony for a panda bear, and grinned in spite of herself. Even Lucas could not have found a way to get Will his own panda bear, especially since he might decide to elope to China with it.  
  
Sami knocked hesitantly at Lucas' door. It was well after ten o'clock, but what did Lucas pay those people in his house for if not to let people in when he didn't feel like doing it himself?  
  
Lucas heard the knock on his front door, and wondered if he was imagining things. As he stood up to check, he quickly glanced around, looking perhaps for a raven quoting "nevermore." He snickered to himself. It wasn't quite that bad living in a mansion by himself, but he did sometimes feel like a hermit. That was why he spent so little time here in the weeks that Will stayed with his mother. It just wasn't fun living in a mansion that he had built for a woman who had cheated on him and told him in no uncertain terms that she liked his money but not him.  
  
He was happier at work. He knew that he was doing well, being productive, and in general proving that he was a strong asset to the company especially considering he was not yet twenty-five. Victor had calmed down toward Kate when Lucas had been able to take credit for luring Eric back to his old job, just as Lucas had hoped. Titan had what it wanted, and no one asked Lucas how he had done it, which was just as well. Kate probably preferred having Victor angry with her to knowing that Lucas was not only on good terms with Sami but scheming with her.  
  
Kate hadn't missed the fact that Sami was coming to visit Lucas at work more and more often, sometimes for a shallowly fabricated reason and sometimes for no reason at all. Lucas had explained that it was all for Will, and Kate stomped off, wondering aloud *where* she had heard that before. Lucas did not care. Sami was his relief from the Eric and Jamie show. Jamie came to see Eric every day for at least a few minutes, and she always stopped to see Lucas as well. She had even briefly tried to make Eric and Lucas do something together with her, and Lucas was intensely grateful to whichever of the Brady twins had pounded it into Jamie's skull that that was *not* a good idea.  
  
Lucas also had to put up with his mother's gushing over how perfect Greta was for Austin; better than Carrie Brady had ever been, in fact. Lucas briefly wondered if his mother came from a different timeline in which Austin had had nothing to do with end of his storybook relationship with Carrie, but refrained from asking. He was sick of hearing about relationships altogether.  
  
Now he opened his front door and was startled to see Sami.  
  
"Lucas?"  
  
"You sound surprised, but I live here."  
  
"I know. I just didn't think you answered the door yourself."  
  
"I like to keep in practice."  
  
"But seriously--"  
  
"Seriously, my deep dark secret is that most of those servants were for Nicole and if I want my door opened in the middle of the night, I open it."  
  
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bother you, but Will forgot his stuffed panda and he said he wanted it for something this week. Is it all right if I bring it up to his room and look in on him, and you can go back to whatever you were doing?" she suggested a little too quickly.  
Lucas agreed, and Sami refrained from running up to Will's room. Once inside, she stroked her sleeping son's back until he opened his eyes.  
  
"Mommy? What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing, Sweetie. I just want you to get up for a minute, okay?"  
  
"Okay," Will mumbled, as he sat up unsteadily. He had obviously been deeply asleep. Sami cringed at the thought of waking him up, since it seemed like most of the past four-and-a-half years had been spent trying to make him go to sleep.  
  
"All right, Will. You remember the party you went to for Kevin's birthday last week?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You remember how you brought him a present?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Tomorrow is your Daddy's birthday, and this is your present to give to him." Sami gave to wrapped album to her son. "Okay?"  
  
"Okay." He was still sleepy, and Sami doubted that what she had said had stuck.  
  
"Do you want to color a card for him?"  
  
Will truly didn't want anything but to go back to sleep, but he knew that there was not much room for argument in his mother's tone of voice.  
  
Sami found his crayons and paper, and Will sat at his child-size desk to color. He looked to Sami for approval when he finished.  
  
"That's beautiful, Sweetie. One more thing--"  
  
"Sami." Sami and Will both jumped at Lucas' voice. He stood in the doorway with an infuriating smirk on his face. "Will, are you ready to go back to bed?"  
  
Will nodded and jumped into his bed, and Lucas pulled the sheet up around his son's shoulders. He then pushed Sami out of the room, reaching behind him to grab the package.  
  
"Not allowing your son to go to sleep when he wants to. It's child abuse, Sami."  
  
"How long were you standing there?"  
  
"Long enough."  
  
"You were eavesdropping?" Sami was getting mad, fast.  
  
"Why does this surprise you?" Lucas' smirk grew even more obnoxious. "Can I open this now?" he added, shaking the package.  
  
"No! It's from Will, and besides, it isn't your birthday yet."  
  
"It is not from Will. Will didn't know tomorrow was my birthday until you told him, less than an hour ago. The mall is closed already. Anyway, Will would never wrap a package I purple, unless he hated me." He inspected the package more closely. "Although it does look like his material of choice."  
  
"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't remember until I saw you tonight."  
  
"It's okay. I didn't expect you to remember at all."  
  
"Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"It's been a few years since you even tolerated the idea that I'm alive, let alone celebrated it."  
  
"But that's not how it is now."  
  
"No, and that's a lot better present than whatever this is."  
  
"I agree, but you deserved something wrapped."  
  
"Well, I've got it. Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome." She moved to kiss his cheek, and he purposely shifted so he could capture her lips with his. Sami briefly lost her breath, and the world would have spun out of control had it not been for Lucas' arm around her waist. He had dropped the package on a shelf, or perhaps a window sill, so he could continue to concentrate on Sami and nothing else.  
  
He had been unable to think about anything but Sami for more than two consecutive minutes in the past month. Lucas had recently decided that he would never be able to have another meaningful relationship, would never be able to have another stepmother for Will, because he simply could not get Sami out of his system. She was in his mind when he was working, when he was playing with Will, and worst of all, when he was sleeping. And if he couldn't stop thinking about her lips, he was going to make sure that she had trouble forgetting about his, too.  
  
Sami was almost embarrassed at how quickly her body reacted to Lucas' touch. She was sure he would be able to tell that she had not stopped thinking about him since the last night they had spent together. But all she wanted was to feel pleasure, and make him feel pleasure in return. What was wrong about two friends making each other feel better, after all? Lucas probably already knew that really, he could have his way with her any time he tried, so she didn't think she should object when he picked her up in his arms and carried her, damsel-in-distress style, into the room she had stayed in when Will had had his problems. Damsel-in distress style is right, she remarked to herself as Lucas placed her onto the bed. She *was* in distress and the only one who could help her was Lucas. The only one.  
  
Lucas reached for the buttons on Sami's blouse and felt her shiver slightly as he opened them, one after the other, trying not to move too quickly. He did not know when or if he would have another opportunity like this, and he had to do everything just right. Sami was reaching to mirror his actions, to unbutton his shirt and run her hands over his heated flesh. Her hands and her tongue worked skillfully and he could not suppress a groan of desire. Then Sami suddenly froze, and Lucas opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it when he saw the look on her face. He did not want this if she did not, and at the moment this was obviously the case.  
  
"What's wrong?" She looked at him and was either gathering her thoughts or preparing to burst into tears.  
  
"I want you so much," was all she could think to whisper.  
  
That was high on Lucas' list of things he wanted to hear. "I want you too, Sami. Why did you stop?"  
  
"Are you sure you want me?"  
  
In response, he took her hand and placed it between his thighs. "What do you think?"  
  
"Would it matter if I was anyone else, though?"  
  
"What do you take me for?"  
  
"I didn't mean it that way. I mean, on the only actual date we've ever had, we laughed when we tried to kiss each other. The last time we did *this*" and she gestured wildly around the room as if 'this' had been the fault of the chair or the lamp, "you didn't mention it again."  
  
"Only because the first time you ended up regretting it and blackmailing me to keep my mouth shut. I thought you didn't want me to mention it."  
  
"No! No, I never regretted it, never. I was just so set on getting Austin and showing Carrie what it felt like to be alone, and I didn't want you to get in my way."  
  
"Am I in your way now?"  
  
"No, now you're all I want. You're all I can think about."  
  
"Stop thinking and start acting, then."  
  
"I don't want to do this just out of lust."  
  
"I don't think it's lust."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Well, I don't think we can be sure until we do a little bit more of this." He ran his hand beneath the strap of her bra and followed it along to clasp.  
  
"Lucas." She said his name commandingly but she did not try to stop him from touching her.  
  
"Sami, you're my best friend. You're my partner in crime, and you're the mother of my child. You're damn right that I'm lusting after you, but there are other things, too. And if that date didn't work out, it's because *it* was wrong, not because *we* were wrong."  
  
Sami flashed him a devilish grin, and he returned it with one of his own. They continued what they had been doing, but Sami stopped again.  
  
"Are you trying to kill me?"  
  
"I just noticed the clock."  
  
"So?"  
  
"It's after midnight. Happy birthday."  
  
"Thank you. You know what I'd like?"  
  
"No, but since it's your birthday if you tell me all about it I'll do my best to do it."  
  
"Good." He began to whisper in her ear, and giggling, she set about making sure that this was the best birthday he had had in twenty-five. She was fairly sure she could even top that BMW that she'd accidentally wrecked.  
  
"Odi et Amo" --part 19  
  
"You aren't even going to tell me what to wear?" demanded an irritated Sami.  
  
"Wear whatever you want."  
  
"That's not a good answer. Do you want me closer to jeans and sneakers or closer to an evening gown?"  
  
"It doesn't matter."  
  
"If we're leaving this house, yes it does."  
  
"Fine. Closer to jeans, then, even though I've seen you do this in an evening gown with my own eyes."  
  
"Do what? What are we doing?"  
  
"I'd rather not say."  
  
"You'd rather not say?"  
  
"That's right. This information is available *only* on a need-to-know basis."  
  
"I *need* to know." Lucas studied her critically.   
  
"No, you don't."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I'm in charge of who I divulge this *very* sensitive information to, and you just aren't on the list. Sorry."  
  
"Who is on the list?" Lucas considered that.  
  
"Me."  
  
"You're just doing this to bother me."  
  
"Why shouldn't I? You bother me all the time." He kissed her before she could reply, so she would be sure to understand his meaning.  
  
"Not fair," Sami mumbled, as she walked back into her bedroom to change. She could hear Austin and Greta shouting about something in the apartment next door, and she wondered what it was. Then she flung open her closet and considered her sun dresses. One of them would probably work, but which? One looked a little bit too young for her, but it had a light blue in it that was just the shade of her eyes, and that had always made it a favorite, although the navy one with the daisies set off her figure the best, and the gray one was the most versatile, and she always seemed to have a good time when she wore the mostly orange one. She should probably just wear the red and navy one. It was eye-popping and she knew it.  
  
She brushed out her hair, wanting it too look perfect but oddly comforted to know that Lucas had seen it so many times, worn so many ways, that it would be all right if she couldn't get it exactly right. As it turned out, she could, and she gloated in the mirror. Who was she kidding? Naturally everything had to be perfect, if not for Lucas than because she would not stand for Lucas being the good-looking one in this relationship.  
  
"Is this all right, Lucas?" she asked.  
  
"Perfect."  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"If I wouldn't tell you ten minutes ago, what makes you think I'll tell you now?"  
  
"You can't blame me for being curious. You said that you were going to take me on *our* kind of date, and I'm really wondering what that might be."  
  
"If you thought about it, you'd already know." He tossed her a look that he had probably invented just to enrage her.  
  
She had already thought about it. She had been thinking about it for two days, since the morning of Lucas' birthday when she had lain in his arms, and he had told her that he would prove that they really COULD go on a date without laughing when they kissed each other.  
  
That morning, Lucas had decided to call his mother and tell her that he was too sick to move, and not to be mad at him if he didn't want to see her or his brothers on his birthday. Sami had vetoed the idea on the grounds that she would never have let Will get away with it.  
  
"Lucas, she saw you yesterday at Titan, didn't she?"  
  
"So?"  
  
"She knows you weren't getting sick. If she thought you did get sick this suddenly, she'd come over and take care of you, I mean, how could she not?"  
  
"But I'm having a *very* happy birthday right here and I don't want to go anywhere or see anyone but you or Will."  
  
"You know I hate your mother, but you should still go. She loves you. Let her see your pretty face, and Will's." She paused. "Not that I'm saying you should leave her ALONE with Will--"  
  
"She never badmouths you in front of Will. She tried it once and I changed her mind."  
  
"Should I feel honored?"  
  
"No, but I thought you might like to know. Can you say the same for your family? Do Eric and Belle keep their opinions of me to themselves when Will is around?"  
  
"Yes, Eric does. And Belle does too, but her opinion of you is changing pretty fast. I overheard her tell one of her friends the other day that she admitted you were 'cute,' and she never would have done that before we started getting along better."  
  
"Why were she and her friends talking about me?"  
  
"They were talking about Philip and whether he was as good-looking as his brothers. Speaking of Philip, would *he* badmouth me to Will?"  
  
"Philip doesn't know that Will exists. So what did they decide about his looks?"  
  
"I don't know if I should say."  
  
"Come on!"  
  
Sami giggled. "You have to remember that they're very young and inexperienced."  
  
"So?"  
  
"They decided that blond hair and blue eyes are a waste on a guy and both you and Austin are much better-looking than he is. You in particular."  
  
Lucas grinned.  
  
"Okay, get over yourself. It's the opinion of a group of fifteen-year-olds, most of them not especially bright."  
  
"That's not a nice thing to say."  
  
"It's the truth! Have you met Mimi? Jan? I was a thousand times more intelligent and ten thousand times more perceptive at fifteen than they are."  
  
"Okay, okay, but you're unique. And to get back to our respective families . . ."  
  
"Go see your mother. We don't need the trouble that my being there would cause. Yet."  
  
"I knew there would be a 'yet.'"  
  
"Wouldn't you be disappointed if there wasn't?"  
  
"Yeah." He shrugged. "But I'd really rather have you with me, now. Today."  
  
"You can have me tonight and tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that."  
  
"That sounds good. Are you busy tomorrow night?"  
  
"No. Why?"  
  
"You are now. I'm going to prove what I said last night, about the *date* being wrong, not us."  
  
And from that point to this, as they left Sami's apartment, he had flatly refused to give her any information. She suspected that he hadn't *had* any at first, but she had seen the wheels start turning when Will had proudly brought his card and present downstairs.  
  
"I remember sitting with you while you made this," he remarked as he went through the pages, with Will on his lap. "You were *so* sure it would guilt Austin into spending more time with you."  
  
"It worked, too!"  
  
"For about a day."  
  
"That's better than nothing." She paused as a picture of one of Will's first smiles caught both of their eyes. "But you know what the best thing about it was?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Making it, with you hanging around teasing me about it, and turning on the TV every five minutes to check the football score, and telling me what stupid scheme we could use on Carrie and Austin next. Everything has changed, you know? I spent years trying to come between Carrie and Austin, but the only thing I remember is you."  
  
"Sami." Lucas jerked her back to the present. "Let's go."  
  
"Are we in a hurry?"  
  
"A little bit."  
  
"I would be able to hurry better if I knew where I was going."  
  
"That's why we're leaving now."   
  
"We're walking?" Sami questioned after a moment.  
  
"Yeah, we can walk from here."  
  
"To Salem Place?"  
  
"That's right."  
  
"The Java Cafe?"  
  
"Not exactly." He pulled her to a bench off to the side, and pointed to a man and a woman who had just approached the Cafe. The man pulled out the woman's chair, and then left her, presumably to get their orders.  
  
"Why are we watching them?"  
  
"How can we make her lose all respect for him?" Lucas answered her question with a question.  
  
"Why do we care?"  
  
"Is that all that important?"  
  
"Yes! I don't randomly ruin peoples' lives, or is this just a quiz?"  
  
"We won't ruin their lives. They aren't a couple. The woman is editor-in-chief of a magazine that Titan holds publishing rights to. The man is an executive vice president at another publishing company that wants to take the rights from us when our contract is up next month."  
  
"And you can't beat him fairly, so you're going to embarrass him?" Sami was slightly disgusted, slightly surprised, and slightly interested.  
  
"We can beat him fairly, but he's talking to her behind our backs, or so he thinks. We need some extra time. If he backs off for two days, we'll keep the account."  
  
"What does this have to do with me?"  
  
"I helped you with Eric and Jamie."  
  
"Because I got Eric to take his old job back. What's in this for me?"  
  
"Your old job."  
  
"You can't be serious. You'll never talk Kate and Victor into that."  
  
"Victor won't care if he thinks you'll do your job without feuding with anyone, especially if your being there makes Eric and me both happy. And Mom has lost most of her power in Titan. He doesn't like the way she ran things when he had his stroke."  
  
"Gee, I wonder why," said Sami sarcastically. "Anyway, isn't this supposed to be a date?"  
  
"I told you I had business to finish up. This is it. We don't have much time, so what can we do?"  
  
The wheels began to turn in Sami's head. "Does he have a family? Skeletons in his closet?"  
  
"A wife and two daughters, and I didn't have a chance to look for skeletons in his closet. I'm sure he has some. All businessmen at that level do."  
  
"So the best thing to do would be to make him think he has to get home to his little girls right now. Do you have names?"  
  
"The wife's name is Janet. The girls are Hannah and Carla."  
  
"Is he carrying a cell phone?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Steal it or ruin it. I'll do the rest."  
  
Sami headed for the back of the Java Cafe and appropriated an apron. In no time, she gave the businessman the message, and he left without even speaking to the woman with whom he had come. Lucas snickered delightedly and grabbed Sami's arm.  
  
"Time to celebrate. Where do you want to go? We're dressed enough for Chez Vous if you want."  
  
"Whatever," said Sami glumly. Lucas picked up on her mood but decided to let it sit until they reached the restaurant.  
  
"We're supposed to be gloating, Sami. What's wrong?"  
  
"Is that all I am to you?"  
  
"Probably not, but tell me what 'that' is."  
  
"Some tool, to get what you want? I mean, a few hours ago you were saying you loved me, but now you're saying 'I'll do such-and-such for you if you do such-and-such for me.' That isn't what love is."  
  
"You were the one who asked what was in it for you. I was going to offer you that position back as soon as I thought I could swing it no matter what you did. I wouldn't have done that if I thought it would upset you. It was supposed to be fun."  
  
"Fun? We scared that man half to death. What if someone did that to us, with Will?"  
  
"He's going to call his wife for real as soon as he gets back to his hotel, and he'll have the pleasure of realizing nothing's wrong. He'll have to worry for ten minutes. What he was doing, talking to her that way, was well into shades of gray business-wise. We weren't doing any worse than he was."  
  
"That makes me feel a little better, but didn't we both say we'd stop scheming to set a good example for Will?"  
  
"It wasn't much of a scheme. We didn't really hurt anyone, not any more than we did when we set Eric and Jamie up."  
  
"Okay, but one more thing."  
  
"One more thing. What?"  
  
"How is this a date?"  
  
"We agreed to meet each other and do something together because we like seeing each other. That's not a date?"  
  
"By that definition, we've been going out practically since we met."  
  
Lucas shrugged. "So?"  
  
"Well, you know we haven't been. You used to call me your partner in crime. That's not the same as being your girlfriend."  
  
"Your wife, or your fiancee, or your girlfriend isn't supposed to be your partner?"  
  
"I don't know. You're making this confusing."  
  
"I think I'm making it simple. You're my partner and my best friend and the mother of my child and the person that I feel the best when I'm around. I like you and I respect you and I worry about you when I don't know where you are. Throw great sex in there, which we have, and I don't think there's one thing that we haven't got."  
  
"I guess . . . I guess I just . . ."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I didn't expect it to be this way. I always thought it would be a storybook, like, I don't know, Bo and Hope."  
  
"Who are divorced."  
  
"But getting married again!"  
  
"After he married my sister and got her pregnant, and then married some look-alike impersonator without knowing the difference, and they basically spent years pretending they didn't want each other. It wasn't a storybook, Sami. No relationship is. Not your parents', certainly not my parents', not anyone's."  
  
Sami became agitated without really knowing why. "But it can happen, it must happen, it would have happened with Austin and Carrie if we hadn't been in the way, sometimes you just kiss the right person one time and you *know* because you get bells and whistles--"  
  
The waiter came and delivered their food, and looked curiously at Sami. She was so animated that several people were looking at her, in fact. Lucas glanced around. One of the few problems he had admitted he'd had with Nicole even when he had been deeply infatuated with her was that she liked to make scenes. Sami was doing so right now, although completely by accident.  
  
"Sami," he whispered without getting a reaction. He leaned over the table and kissed her. Her eyes went wide with surprise, and he pulled away. That had shut her up, and most of the on-lookers found something else to stare at once he broke the kiss.  
  
She slid back in her seat, and he waited for her to say something, anything.  
  
"So that's what bells and whistles are," she murmured.  
  
"Eat your dinner," he answered, mildly frightened by the warm feeling that was creeping over him.  
  
"This, this has been so great, Lucas."  
  
"See? I told you we could do it."  
  
"I don't mean just this. I mean the past seven years."  
  
"And counting."  
  
"I don't ever want to stop counting."  
  
"Neither do I." He stopped and stared at her.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Will you marry me?"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"We do everything a married couple does. Why not make it official?"  
  
"We aren't even living together."  
  
"Shouldn't we be? We can share Will, we can share everything. You don't really want to stay in your sister's old apartment, do you?"  
  
"No, but this--"  
  
"Isn't a storybook?"  
  
She smiled. "It's better. I *will* marry you."  
  
They fell into another kiss, and this time, there was no laughter.  
  
The End  
  



End file.
